University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


JACK  FLEMING  COLLECTION 

OF 
AFRICAN  AMERICANA 


LECTURES 


ON    THE 


)$Hfffffl  ftttfo  practice 

OF 

SLAVERY,      : 

AS    EXHIBITED   IN   THE 

INSTITUTION  OF  DOMESTIC  SLAVERY 

IN    THE 

UNITED    STATES: 

WITH   THE 

ft f  <5(tyY ttcf^fc   fit    ^Sltth^c 
JU  I    ,311  It  4 1  **  I    I  U    cv  1  a  U  C  J> « 

BY 
WILLIAM   A.   SMITH,  D.D., 

PRESIDENT  OF  RANDOLPH-MACON  COLLEGE,  AND  PROFESSOR  OF  MORAL  AND 
INTELLECTUAL  PHILOSOPHT. 

EDITED   BY   THOMAS    0.    SUMMERS,  D.D. 


STEVENSON   AND    OWEN! 
1857. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1856,  by 

WILLIAM  A.  SMITH, 
lu  the  Office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Middle  District  of  Tennessee 


STEREOTYPED  AND  PRINTED  BY  A.  A.  STITT, 
SOUTHERN    MKTHODIST    PUBLISHING    HOUSE,    NASHVILLE,    TENN. 


Contents. 


PREFACE Page  vii 

LECTURE  I. 

INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS    ON   THE    SUBJECT   OF   AFRICAN    SLAVERY   IN 
THE    UNITED    STATES. 

General  subject  enunciated — Why  this  discussion  may  be  regarded  as 
humiliating  by  Southern  people — Other  stand-points,  however, 
disclose  an  urgent  necessity,  at  this  time,  for  a  thorough  investiga 
tion  of  the  whole  subject — The  results  to  which  it  is  the  object  of 
these  lectures  to  conduct  the  mind 11 

LECTURE  II. 

THE  ABSTRACT   PRINCIPLE  OF  THE    INSTITUTION  OF  DOMESTIC    SLAVERY. 

If  the  system  be  sinful,  per  se,  the  sin  of  it  must  be  found  in  the 
principle — Is  the  principle  sinful  ? — The  principle  denned — Objec 
tions  to  the  term  " submission"  answered — The  effects  of  Mr.  Jef 
ferson's  doctrine  upon  many  conscientious  persons  in  the  Southern 
States 31 

LECTURE  III. 

OBJECTIONS    CONSIDERED. 

Objections  classified — Popular  views  discussed — "All  men  are  born 
free  and  equal " — "All  men  are  created  equal" — "All  men  in  a  state 
of  nature  are  free  and  equal" — And  the  particular  form  in  which 
Dr.  Wayland  expresses  the  popular  idea,  viz.,  "  The  relation  in 
which  men  stand  to  each  other  is  the  relation  of  equality ;  not 
equality  of  condition,  but  equality  of  right" — Remarks  on  Dr. 
Wayland's  course — His  treatise  on  Moral  Science  as  a  text-book.  60 

(iii) 


IV  CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  IV. 

THE    QUESTION   OF   RIGHTS   DISCUSSED. 

Why  it  is  necessary  to  define  the  term  RIGHTS — The  RIGHT  in  itself 
defined  to  be  the  GOOD — The  doctrine  that  the  will  of  God  is  the 
origin  of  the  right  considered — The  will  of  God  not  the  origin  of 
the  right,  but  an  expression  of  the  right  which  is  the  GOOD — Natu 
ral  rights  and  acquired  rights,  each  defined 77 

LECTURE  V. 

THE    DOCTRINES    OF   RIGHTS   APPLIED    TO    GOVERNMENT. 

Government,  human  as  well  as  Divine,  is  a  necessity  of  man's  fallen 
condition — All  men  concur  in  this — Man  did  not  originate  govern 
ment  :  he  has  only  modified  the  form — The  legitimate  objects  of 
government,  and  the  means  which  it  employs  to  effect  these  objects 
— The  logical  inferences:  1.  Although  he  has  the  power,  he  has  no 
right  to  do  ivrong ;  2.  As  a  fallen  being,  he  is,  without  a  government 
over  him,  liable  to  lose  the  power  of  self-control — What  are  the 
rights  of  man,  1.  In  a  state  of  infancy,  2.  In  a  state  of  maturity, 
and,  3.  In  a  savage  or  uncivilized  state — Civil  government  is  not 
founded  on  a  concession  of  rights 104 

LECTURE  VI. 

THE    ABSTRACT     PRINCIPLE     OF    SLAVERY     DISCUSSED    ON     SCRIPTURE 
GROUNDS,   AND    MISREPRESENTATIONS    OF    THE    PRINCIPLE    EXAMINED. 

The  true  subjective  right  of  self-control  defined  according  to  the 
Scriptures — The  abstract  principle  of  slavery  sanctioned  by  the 
Scriptures — The  Roman  government — Dr.  Wayland's  Scripture  ar 
gument  examined  and  refuted — The  positions  of  Dr.  Charming  and 
Professor  Whewell  examined  and  refuted 132 

,  .  ?      LECTURE  VII. 

THE    INSTITUTION   OF   DOMESTIC    SLAVERY. 

The  question  stated — The  conduct  of  masters  a  separate  question — 
The  institution  defined — The  position  of  the  abolitionists,  and  that 
of  the  Southern  people — The  pres  implion  is  in  favor  of  the  latter — 


CONTENTS.  V 

Those  who  claim  freedom  for  the  blacks  of  this  country  failed  to 
secure  it  to  those  on  whom  they  professed  to  confer  it — The  doc 
trine  by  which  they  seek  to  vindicate  the  claim  set  up  for  them, 
together  with  the  fact  of  history  assumed  to  be  true,  is  false...  153 

LECTURE  VIII. 

'•<'•->.-  '•"•$£.' 

DOMESTIC  SLAVERY,  AS  A  SYSTEM  OF  GOVERNMENT  FOR  THE  AFRICANS 
IN  AMERICA,  EXAMINED  AND  DEFENDED  ON  THE  GROUND  OF  ITS 
ADAPTATION  TO  THE  PRESENT  CONDITION  OF  THE  RACE. 

There  should  be  a  separate  and  subordinate  government  for  our  Afri 
can  population — Objection  answered — Africans  are  not  competent 
to  that  measure  of  self-government  which  entitles  a  man  to  political 
sovereignty — They  were  not  prepared  for  freedom  when  first  brought 
into  the  country ;  hence  they  were  placed  under  the  domestic  form 
of  government — The  humanity  of  this  policy — In  the  opinion  of 
Southern  people,  they  are  still  unprepared — The  fanaticism  and 
rashness  of  some,  and  the  inexcusable  wickedness  of  others,  who 
oppose  the  South 176 

LECTURE  IX. 

THE    NECESSITY   FOR   THE    INSTITUTION    OF   DOMESTIC     SLAVERY   EXEM 
PLIFIED    BY    FACTS. 

The  attempts  made  at  domestic  colonization — The  result  of  the  ex 
periment  in  the  case  of  our  free  colored  population — The  coloniza 
tion  experiment  on  the  coast  of  Africa — The  example  of  the  Canaan- 
itish  nations — Summary  of  the  argument  on  the  general  point,  and 
inferences , 192 

LECTURE  X. 

EMANCIPATION    DOCTRINES    DISCUSSED. 

Gradual  emancipation  the  popular  plan — It  would  operate  to  collect 
the  slaves  into  a  few  States,  cut  them  off  from  contact  with  civiliza 
tion,  and  reduce  them  to  barbarism — It  would  make  an  opening  for 
Northern  farmers  and  their  menials  to  come  into  those  States 
from  which  they  retired — The  modifications  which  the  system  of 
slavery  has  undergone  within  late  years — A  comparison  of  the 
menials  of  the  free  and  of  the  slave  States,  and  the  only  plan  of 
emancipation  admissible — The  gospel  the  only  remedy  for  the  evils 
of  slavery — Paul's  philosophy  and  practice,  1  Tim.  vi.  1-5....  210 


VI  CONTENTS 

LECTURE  XI. 

TEACHING   THE    SLAVES    TO    HEAD   AND   WRITE. 

Superiors  frequently  neglect  inferiors — The  policy  of  the  South  vin 
dicated  by  necessity — The  results  that  would  follow  an  attempt  to 
establish  a  system  for  instructing  the  blacks  in  letters,  and  those 
which  would  follow  the  establishment  of  such  a  system — The  do 
mestic  element  of  the  system  of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States 
affords  the  means  for  their  improvement  adapted  to  their  condition 
and  the  circumstances  of  the  country — It  affords  the  natural,  safe, 
and  the  effectual  means  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  elevation  of 
the  race — The  prospects  of  the  Africans  in  this  country,  and  their 
final  removal  to  Africa — The  country  never  will  be  entirely  rid  of 
them — The  Southern  policy  wise  and  humane  228 

LECTURE  XII. 

THE   CONSERVATIVE    INFLUENCE   OF   THE   AFRICAN   POPULATION   OF   THE 

SOUTH. 

Preliminary  remarks — American  party — The  present  and  prospective 
condition  of  our  country — The  large  number  of  voters  in  the  free-soil 
States  who  will  be  under  a  foreign  influence,  political  and  religious, 
inducing  them  to  discard  the  Bible  and  the  right  of  private  judg 
ment — The  freedom  of  the  Southern  States  from  this  anti-Christian 
and  anti-republican  influence — The  presence  of  the  African  race  in 
the  Southern  States  secures  them  this  advantage — The  unpatriotic 
policy  of  freesoilism 257 

LECTURE  XIII. 

THE   DUTY   OF   MASTERS    TO    SLAVES. 

"  Masters,  give  unto  your  servants  (8ov7\,otr,  slaves)  that  which  is  just  and  equal, 
knowing  that  ye  also  have  a  Master  in  heaven." — COL.  iv.  1. 

The  duty  of  masters  and  the  rights  of  slaves  reciprocal — I.  The  duty 
of  masters  to  their  slaves  considered  as  "their  money:"  in  regard 
to  working,  resting,  feeding,  clothing,  housing,  and  the  employment 
of  persons  over  them ;  also  to  the  sick  and  the  aged.  2.  Their  duty 
to  their  slaves  considered  as  social  beings — Punishments  and  the 
social  principle  discussed.  3.  Their  duty  to  their  slaves  considered 
as  religious  beings — Public  instruction  on  the  Sabbath  and  at  other 
times,  and  the  opportunity  of  attending — The  employment  of  preach 
ers,  and  the  religious  instruction  of  children 276 


PREFACE. 


THE  following  pages  contain  the  substance  of 
Lectures  on  the  subject  of  Domestic  Slavery  in 
the  United  States,  which  for  several  years  have 
been  delivered  to  the  classes  in  Moral  Science  in 
Randolph  Macon  College. 

Since  the  year  1844,  I  have  been  frequently 
called  on  to  discuss  this  subject  on  various  popular 
occasions  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  My 
classes  in  college  were  compelled  to  deal  with  the 
subject  of  domestic  slavery.  Not  only  the  popular 
ideas  in  regard  to  African  slavery  in  this  country, 
but  the  specific  treatment  of  this  topic  by  numer 
ous  text  authors  in  Moral  Science,  rendered  this 
unavoidable.  A  deep  conviction  that  the  minds 
of  young  men  were  receiving  a  wrong,  and,  in 
the  present  state  of  the  country,  a  fatal  direction, 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

both  as  regards  the  principles  of  the  institution, 
and  the  institution  itself,  induced  me  to  substitute 
the  text  authorities  on  the  subject  by  a  course  of 
lectures.  These  lectures,  therefore,  were  origin 
ally  drawn  up  with  a  view  to  oral  delivery.  They 
were  modified  by  the  circumstances  of  their  origin. 
In  preparing  them  for  the  press,  however,  I  was 
led  to  consider  the  class  of  persons  for  whose  use 
they  were  chiefly  designed,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  adapt  them  as  far  as  possible  to  the  general 
reader.  I  was  aware  of  the  difficulty  of  fixing 
definitely  on  the  mind  of  the  student  the  nature  and 
limits  of  abstract  truths,  and  that  this  difficulty 
is,  if  any  thing,  greatly  increased  when  we  pass 
to  those  whose  reading  is  not  characterized  by 
habits  of  thought, — as  would  be  the  case  with 
many  of  those  whose  interest  in  the  general 
subject  of  slavery  might  induce  them  to  read 
these  lectures.  The  task  of  meeting  these  diffi 
culties  was  encountered  with  a  measure  of  painful 
distrust. 

My  views  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  as  a  prac 
tical  question,  will  be  found  very  generally  to 
accord  with  the  popular  ideas  of  those  communities 


in  which  the  African  population  chiefly  resides. 
But,  as  a  question  of  Moral  Science,  I  will  be 
found  to  differ,  and  in  some  aspects  very  mate 
rially,  from  those  who  have  spoken  and  written  on 
the  subject. 

The  closing  lecture  is  on  the  duties  of  masters 
fco  slaves.  On  this  point  it  may  also  appear  that 
my  views  do  not  accord  with  those  of  some  others. 
There  are  men  whose  views  I  judge  to  be  en 
tirely  too  loose  on  the  whole  subject.  But  I 
should  consider  any  treatise  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  as  inexcusably  defective  that  did  not 
embrace  the  duties  of  masters  to  slaves ;  and  I 
persuade  myself  that  the  number,  if  any,  who 
take  a  different  view  of  the  subject  will  be  found 
to  be  exceedingly  small. 

Whether  I  have  acted  wisely  in  endeavoring  to 
combine  in  one  performance  a  treatise  adapted  to 
the  habits  of  the  student,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
the  habits  of  the  general  reader ;  and  whether  I 
have  succeeded  to  any  desirable  extent  in  so  diffi 
cult  an  undertaking,  it  is  not  for  me  to  determine. 
I  can  only  say,  that  in  giving  these  lectures  to  the 
public,  I  have  yielded  to  the  earnest  desire,  often 
1* 


X  PREFACE. 

expressed,  of  a  large  number  of  friends  whose 
judgment  is  entitled  to  my  highest  respect  and 
confidence.  In  meeting  their  wishes,  I  have  en 
deavored  to  do  justice  to  the  subject.  I  have 
written  honestly,  and  with  a  sincere  desire  to  do 
good. 

For  the  many  imperfections  of  this  volume,  the 
author  persuades  himself  that  the  assurance  that 
it  has  been  written  and  prepared  for  the  press 
under  the  pressure  of  other  important  and  fre 
quently  distracting  avocations,  will  be  received 
as  some  apology.  In  the  humble  hope  that  it 
may,  nevertheless,  shed  some  light  on  the  difficul 
ties  of  the  general  subject,  and  thereby  contribute 
to  diffuse  sounder  views  on  the  principles  in 
volved,  quiet  the  irritation  of  the  public  mind, 
and  give  more  stability  to  our  political  union,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  impress  masters  more  deeply 
with  the  importance  and  obligations  of  their  provi 
dential  position,  it  is  with  diffidence  submitted  to 
the  judgment  of  the  public. 

RANDOLPH  MACON  COLLEGE,  VA., 
August  ISth,  1856. 


LECTUBES 


ON   THE 


mb     mtim  0f 


LECTURE   I. 

INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS    ON    THE    SUBJECT    OF    AFRICAN 
SLAVERY   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

•*'"'».  •!*  ' '  f    '''  P  *  ** 

General  subject  enunciated — Why  this  discussion  may  be  regarded 
as  humiliating  by  Southern  people — Other  stand-points,  how 
ever,  disclose  an  urgent  necessity,  at  this  time,  for  a  thorough 
investigation  of  the  whole  subject — The  results  to  which  it  is 
the  object  of  these  lectures  to  conduct  the  mind. 

THE  great  question  which  arises  in  discussing 
the  slavery  of  the  African  population  of  this 
country — correctly  known  as  "  Domestic  Slavery" 
— is  this  :  Is  the  institution  of  domestic  slavery 
sinful  ? 

The  position  I  propose  to  maintain  in  these 
lectures  is,  that  slavery,  per  se,  is  right ;  or  that 

(ii) 


;>- 

12  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

the  great  abstract  principle  of  slavery  is  right, 
because  it  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  social 
state  ;  and  that  domestic  slavery,  as  an  institution, 
is  fully  justified  by  the  condition  and  circum 
stances  (essential  and  relative)  of  the  African  race 
in  this  country,  and  therefore  equally  right. 

I  confess  that  it  is  somewhat  humiliating  to  dis 
cuss  the  question  enunciated — Is  the  institution 
of  domestic  slavery  sinful?  The  affirmative  as 
sumes  that  an  immense  community  of  Southern 
people,  of  undoubted  piety,  are,  nevertheless,  in 
volved  in  great  moral  delinquency  on  the  subject 
of  slavery.  This  is  a  palpable  absurdity  in  regard 
to  a  great  many.  For  nothing  is  more  certain 
than  this,  that  if  it  be  sinful,  they  either  know  it, 
or  are  competent  to  know  it,  and  hence  are  respon 
sible.  And  as  no  plea  of  necessity  can  justify  an 
enlightened  man  in  committing  known  sin,  it  fol 
lows  that  all  such  Southern  people  are  highly 
culpable,  which  is  utterly  inconsistent  with  the 
admission  that  they  are  pious.  To  say,  as  some 
are  accustomed  to  do,  that  "  slavery  is  certainly 
wrong  in  the  abstract"  that  is,  in  plain  terms,  in 
itself  sinful,  but  that  they  cannot  help  themselves, 
appears  to  me  to  be  wholly  unfounded.  It 
assumes  that  a  man  may  be  absolutely  compelled 
to  commit  sin.  This  certainly  cannot  be  true. 
All  candid  minds  will  readily  allow,  that  so  far  as 


OF    SLAVERY.  13 

Deity  has  yet  explained  himself,  he  has  in  no 
instance  enjoined  upon  man  the  observance  of  any 
principle  as  his  duty,  which  he  may  be  compelled, 
in  the  order  of  his  providence,  to  violate.  It  is 
equally  false  in  fact,  for  it  is  not  true  that  we  are 
absolutely  compelled  to  be  slaveholders.  If  gov 
ernment  be,  as  it  undoubtedly  is,  the  agent  of  the 
people,  and  the  people  choose,  they  are  certainly 
competent  by  this  agent  to  free  .themselves  from 
this  institution.  True,  the  immense  cost  of  such 
an  enterprise  would  be  the  least  in  the  catalogue 
of  evils  resulting  from  it ;  for  the  total  ruin  of  the 
African  race  in  this  country  may  be  put  down 
among  the  rest.  But  what  of  all  this  ?  Nothing 
can  justify  an  enlightened  and  civilized  people  in 
committing  sin.  No ;  not  even  the  sacrifice  of 
life  itself.  Withal,  if  the  civil  society  refuse  to 
make  so  costly  a  sacrifice  to  avoid  sin,  there  is 
nothing  that  can  compel  any  individual  citizen  to 
remain  a  slaveholder.  He  can  live  in  the  com 
munity,  as  some  do,  without  even  hiring  or  own 
ing  a  slave ;  or  he  can  remove  to  one  of  the 
so-called  free  States.  We  should  give  no  counte 
nance,  therefore,  to  any  such  mere  attempts  to 
apologize  for  domestic  slavery.  The  conduct  of 
bad  men  may  sometimes  find  apologists.  The 
conduct  of  good  men  always  admits  of  defence. 
Hence,  with  many  others,  I  have  often  been 


*•:•  /•:;->  v  -->v-;:jV>^  •Vl.*'** 

14  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

grieved  by  the  repeated  attempts  of  certain 
pseudo-friends  to  pass  off  this  flimsy  and  ridicu 
lous  apology  as  an  able  defence  of  the  South. 

In  maintaining  the  institution  of  domestic  sla 
very,  we  are  either  right  or  wrong,  in  a  moral 
point  of  view.  We  ask  no  mere  apology  on  the 
score  of  necessity,  and  we  can  certainly  claim 
none  on  the  ground  of  ignorance.  Those  who 
affirm  that  we .  are  wrong,  directly  attack  our 
,';  morals.  In  doing  this,  they  arraign  the  character 
of  many  thousands,  who  are  among  the  most  civil 
ized  and  pious  people  now  living.  This  fact 
alone  is  a  sufficient  refutation  of  so  foul  an  asper 
sion  ;  and  in  this  view,  it  may  be  readily  admitted 
that  any  attempt  at  a  more  formal  refutation  is  a 
humiliating  condescension,  to  which  few  Southern 
men  can  willingly  submit. 

But  there  is  another  stand-point  from  which 
this  subject  is  to  be  viewed,  and  which  reflects  it 
in  a  very  different  light,  and  clearly  indicates  the 
duty  of  submitting  it  to  the  test  of  the  soundest 
principles  of  philosophy  and  religion.  It  is  this  : 
the  ascendency  which  certain  popular  errors  on  the 
subject  of  African  slavery  have  acquired,  and  the 
extent  to  which  they  peril  the  peace  of  the  country, 
if  not  the  very  liberties  of  the  whole  republic.  I 
allude  to  the  fact  that  there  are  many  in  the 
country — and  not  a  few  of  this  number  spread 


OF    SLAYEEY.  15 

through  our  Southern  States — who  would  not 
intentionally  arraign  the  piety  of  their  fellow-citi 
zens,  but  whose  minds  (it  is  painfully  humiliat 
ing  to  know)  are  in  a  state  of  great  embarrass 
ment  on  this  subject;  so  much  so,  that  they  are 
constantly  liable  to  be  made  the  victims  of  any 
fanatical  influences  abroad  in  the  land,  no  less  than 
the  dupes  of  that  large  class  of  political  aspirants 
who,  reckless  of  both  truth  and  morals,  would 
secure  their  elevation  at  any  price. 

Nor  need  we  wonder  at  the  ascendency  of  erro 
neous  opinions  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  any  mor-" 
lhan  at  the  results  which  they  threaten. 

At  an  early  period  in  our  history,  Thomas  Jef 
ferson  denounced  domestic  slavery  as  sinful,  per 
se,  and  declared  that  "  there  was  no  attribute  in 
the  Divine  mind  which  could  take  sides  with  the 
whites  in  a  controversy  between  the  races  :"  thus 
assuming  in  this  remark,  that  the  providences  as 
well  as  the  attributes  of  the  Deity  are  against  the 
slaveholder.  Owing  to  the  prominence  given  by 
our  Puritan  fathers  to  the  higher  institutions  of 
learning,  together  with  the  fact  that  the  soil  and 
the  climate  of  New  England  were  unfavorable  to 
agricultural  pursuits,  citizens  of  these  States  have, 
from  an  early  period  in  the  history  of  the  repub 
lic,  supplied  the  most  of  the  text-books  for  the 
schools  and  colleges  of  the  whole  country.  This 


w 

16 


PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 


grossly  offensive  error  of  Mr.  Jefferson  has  been 
more  or  less  diffused  through  the  whole  of  these 
text-books.  It  has  been  among  the  first  of  specu 
lations  upon  abstract  truth  presented  to  the  minds 
of  the  American  people.  It  has  been  studiously 
inculcated  from  professors'  chairs  in  colleges  and 
universities  in  the  Northern  States,  while  South 
ern  literary  institutions  have  been  for  the  most 
part  silent.  The  pulpits  of  the  South  have  also 
lent  their  aid,  and  in  some  instances  have  been 
zealous  and  active  in  propagating  this  error. 

As  early  as  1780,  the  Methodists  declared,  in 
a  general  convention  of  preachers,  that  "  slavery 
is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God,  man,  and  nature, 
and  hurtful  to  society;  contrary  to  the  dictates 
of  conscience  and  pure  religion ;  doing  that  which 
we  would  not  that  others  should  do  to  us  and 
ours ;  and  that  we  pass  our  disapprobation  upon 
all  our  friends  who  keep  slaves,  and  advise  their 
freedom."  This  doctrine  was  reasserted  after  the 
organization  of  the  Church  in  1784,  and,  with 
short  intervals  of  time,  and  unimportant  variations 
of  phraseology,  the  essential  features  of  this  doc 
trine  have  been  adhered  to  until  the  present  time, 
by  this  most  numerous  body  of  professing  Christ 
ians  in  this  country.  At  an  early  day,  Bishop 
Coke,  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  openly  advocated  this 
doctrine  in  the  pulpits  of  the  country,  until 


OF    SLAVERY.  17 


silenced  by  the  force  of  public  opinion  ;  yet  he  did 
not  cease,  while  he  remained  in  the  country,  to 
exert  the  full  amount  of  his  personal  influence  in 
private  and  social  circles  against  the  institution  of 
domestic  slavery.  His  example  was  followed  by 
a  large  number  of  his  preachers,  and  many  minis 
ters  of  other  Christian  denominations,  who  imbibed 
the  same  doctrine  and  were  animated  by  the  same 
spirit  of  hostility  to  the  institution  ;  and  who,  like 
himself,  were  only  held  in  abeyance  by  the  same 
force  of  public  opinion.  Many  politicians,  also, 
there  were,  from  time  to  time,  who  did  not  scruple 
to  avow  Mr.  Jefferson's  doctrine,  and  like  him 
affect  to  foresee  dreadful  calamities  overhanging 
the  country  as  a  consequence  of  domestic  slavery. 
In  view  of  these  facts,  it  cannot  be  a  matter  of 
surprise  that  abolition  opinions  and  sentiments 
should  pervade  the  non-slaveholding  sections  of 
the  country ;  and  that  at  least  a  private  but  pain 
ful  impression  or  suspicion  that  there  must  be 
something  wrong  in  the  principle  of  domestic 
slavery,  should  be  found  to  pervade  a  portion  even 
of  the  Southern  mind.  Reluctant  as  we  may  be 
to  admit  the  truth,  necessity  compels  us  to  do  so. 
Let  the  following  facts  bear  witness. 

No  communities  on  earth  are  so  free  from  domes 
tic  insurrections,  and  the  disturbing  influences 
which  come  up  from  the  lower  orders  of  society, 


18  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

f''    **  *  '*"'  -    ,***    '*       "*.5>    .^*-T. "    *V   •          ^     •   •' '  '  *  ~* 

as  those  of  the  Southern  States  of  this  Union. 
The  social  condition  of  England  and  Ireland,  and 
the  states  of  the  continent  of  Europe,  are  per 
petually  subject  to  the  disturbing  and  ruinous 
influence  of  local,  and  often  widely  spread,  insur 
rectionary  movements  against  the  social  order, 
and  even  the  safety  of  the  governments.  Nor  are 
the  Northern  States  of  this  Union  any  more  free 
from  these  agrarian  movements,  than  may  be  ac 
counted  for  by  the  relative  sparseness  of  their 
population.  Yet  a  general  feeling  of  security 
pervades  all  these  people,  whilst  it  is  notorious 
that  there  are  a  great  many  in  Southern  commun 
ities  who  are  in  a  constant  state  of  feverish  ex 
citement  on  the  subject  of  domestic  insurrections. 
Any  announcement  of  that  kind  is  sufficient  to 
convulse  a  whole  community.  The  trifling  affair 
of  Nat.  Turner  (trifling  compared  with  the  fre 
quent  disturbances  and  loss  of  life  common  in  the 
communities  just  referred  to)  painfully  agitated 
the  whole  State  of  Virginia;  and  occupied  her 
Legislature  through  a  whole  winter  in  grave  dis 
cussions  as  to  the  "  best  means  of  freeing  the  State 
from  the  incubus  of  slavery."  These  results  have 
all  followed  from  the  causes  at  which  we  have 
glanced. 

In  this  state  of  things,  it  is  in  vain  to  appeal 
to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Jefferson,  though  a  profound 


OF    SLAVERY.  19 

statesman,  and  to  some  extent  a  logician,  was 
neither  a  divine  nor  a  metaphysician ;  and  that  no 
people  on  the  globe  have  shared  more  largely  in 
the  blessings  of  a  bountiful  Providence  than  those 
of  the  Southern  States  of  this  Union.  In  the 
progress  of  civilization  and  religion,  they  have 
advanced  more  rapidly  than  any  communities  in 
the  country.  Still,  Mr.  Jefferson's  name  does  not 
lose  its  enchantment ;  and  having  already  learned 
to  despise  the  unexampled  blessings  of  Providence, 
many  of  the  Southern  people  actually  believed — 
until  railroad  communications  began  to  dispel  the 
illusion — that  their  own  happy  States  were  really 
falling  back  in  civilization  to  the  darkness  of  the 
middle  ages.  Add  to  all  this,  the  halls  of  legisla 
tion  continue  to  echo  the  opinion  that  "  domestic 
slavery  is  a  great  moral,  political,  and  social  evil." 
In  this  connection,  the  phrase,  moral  evil,  is  re 
stricted  to  its  appropriate  meaning,  sin.  No 
doubt,  Messrs.  Doddridge,  Rives,  Clay,  Webster, 
and  many  others — illustrious  names  ! — who  have 
substantially  used  this  language  in  various  con 
nections,  only  meant  to  deprecate  the  evils  of 
slavery  in  strong  terms,  that  they  might  propiti 
ate  a  more  favorable  consideration  of  what  they 
had  to  say  in  its  defence.  But  if  we  be  correct 
in  the  position  already  postulated,  it  is  quite  time 
our  politicians,  no  less  than  our  ecclesiastics,  had 


¥          :'^-K? 

20       PHILOSOPHY  AND  PRACTICE 

learned  to  chasten  their  language  on  this  subject 
The  fountains  of  public  thought  and  feeling  have, 
to  a  great  extent,  been  poisoned  :  that  is,  the  ab 
stract  opinions  and  religious  sentiments  of  the 
people  have  been  corrupted  and  perverted. 

The  three  great  Protestant  denominations*  of 
the  country  have  been  torn  asunder.  The  flags 
of  their  time-honored  unions  are  trailing  in  the 
dust;  and  they  have  ceased  to  operate  as  bonds 
to  our  political  union.  A  secret  suspicion  of  the 
morality  of  African  slavery  in  the  South,  occupies 
the  minds  of  many  of  our  best  citizens — citizens 
who  are  at  a  vast  remove  from  the  fanaticism 
which  stigmatizes  those  who  are  known  as  the 
ultra  abolitionists  of  the  country.  The  great 
family  of  Methodists  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
the  slave  States  of  Delaware  and  Maryland,  in 
Western  Virginia,  and  a  part  of  Missouri,  retain 
their  connection  with  the  abolition  division  of  the 
M.  E.  Church.  All  along  the  line  of  division  be 
tween  the  M.  E.  Church,  North,  and  the  M.  E. 
Church,  South, — running  through  Virginia,  Ken 
tucky,  and  Missouri, — the  evils  resulting  from  the 

*  The  Methodists  and  Baptists,  it  is  well  known,  divided  di 
rectly  upon  the  subject  of  slavery;  and  the  Presbyterians  medi 
ately  upon  a  question  of  constitutional  law ;  but  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  the  slavery  agitation  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
precipitated  a  division,  which  otherwise  would  probably  have 
been  averted. 


OF    SLAVERY.  21 

conflict  and  strife  of  opinions  on  this  subject  are  •.".. 
daily  multiplying.  The  experiment  of  abolition 
fanaticism  is  progressing;  and  the  souls  as  well  as 
the  bodies  of  men  are  in  the  crucible.  It  is  clear 
that  "  whilst  we  have  slept,  an  enemy  hath  sown 
these  tares/'  in  our  literature,  our  politics,  and 
our  theology. 

Two  striking  phenomena  remain  to  be  noticed 
and  accounted  for.  Amid  all  the  conflict  of  opinion 
and  feeling  upon  this  subject, — which  was  insepa 
rable  from  doctrines  so  utterly  at  war  with  the 
practices  of  the  country — a  conflict  which  at  an 
early  period  found  its  way  into  the  halls  of  legis-  -•;- . 
lation,  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  and  has  not  ceased 
to  the  present  time  to  modify  the  federal  politics 
of  the  country, — the  African  population  has  yielded 
only  to  certain  physical  and  moral  laws  as  to  the 
place  of  its  location ;  whilst  the  institution  of 
slavery,  which  embodies  the  great  mass  of  that 
population  in  the  country,  has  held  on  the  even 
tenor  of  its  way,  unchecked  in  the  slightest  de 
gree  by  the  antagonistic  doctrines  and  sentiments 
which  have  warred  so  fiercely  against  it,  and 
which  at  so  many  periods  have  threatened  the  '  , 
country  with  a  legion  of  disastrous  consequences. 
In  the  first  place,  the  African  population  has  gra 
dually  receded  to  those  sections  of  the  Union 
which,  from  their  climate  and  soil,  were  better  /-i 


'  %•  **  ^     •  *  *  ^f    *JL\  *•  " 

adapted  to  slave  labor.  Why  did  not  the  abstract 
opinions  and  sentiments  set  forth  by  Mr.  Jefferson 
and  the  M.  E.  Church,  and  which  are  supposed  to 
have  given  birth  to  the  emancipation  laws  of  the 
Northern  States,  operate  to  retain  within  those 
States  the  large  portion  of  slave  population  then 
held,  and  secure  their  practical  freedom?  Why 
did  they  escape  the  supposed  charity  of  these 
doctrines,  and  find  their  way,  not  as  freemen,  but 
as  slaves,  to  a  climate  and  soil  more  congenial  to 
,  •"»  their  nature  and  destiny?  Are  these  doctrines 
real  abstract  truths,  as  their  advocates  profess  to 

believe  them  to  be  ?     Then  they  are  fundamental 
i  *  .*  ... 

'  <;'.  — they  are  vital — they  are  life-giving,  and  can 

never  fail  to  impress  their  own  essential  character 
upon  every  system  to  which  they  are  applied. 
The  citizens  of  the  Northern  States  adopted  these 
doctrines.  Then  it  was  an  affair  of  conscience. 
Emancipation  laws  were  said  to  be  the  result. 
But  that  these  laws,  supposed  to  be  founded  in 
the  belief  of  certain  great  abstract  truths,  which 
secured  to  the  African. his  civil  freedom,  should 
operate  only  to  transfer  him  to  a  climate  and  soil 
better  suited  to  his  condition  as  a  slave,  is  a  phe 
nomenon  for  which  the  hypothesis  does  not  ac- 
•';,  /  count.  And  again,  the  institution  itself,  of 
domestic  slavery,  by  reason  of  causes  which  are 
evidently,  though  mysteriously,  at  work,  is  this 


--         j-  **       »          .•  »       .  ^ 

F>V^> 

**:*  ^  *t  i-'&'tJ  *•  ••  '-v./-  --  ,  i  -5v  :..;  •; 


t .  •  <  • 


OF    SLAVERY.  23 

day  more  firmly  grounded  in  the  confidence  of 
the  great  mass  of  the  Southern  people,  and  more 
extensively  ramified  and  interlocked  with  other 
civil  institutions  of  the  whole  country,  than  at 
any  former  period  of  its  history  !  How  is  this  ? 
The  abstract  opinions  and  sentiments  in  question, 
pervading  our  literature,  our  politics,  and  our  theo 
logy,  have  been  adopted  by  so  many  of  our  citi 
zens  as  to  entitle  the  doctrine  to  be  regarded  as  a 
kind  of  national  belief  —  the  sentiment  a  kind  of 
national  feeling.  We  are  told  that  all  men  believe 
slavery  to  be  wrong  in  principle  ;  that  is,  wrong 
in  itself!  and  that  all  men  feel  that  it  is  wrong! 
And  certain  it  is,  there  is  more  truth  than  fiction 
in  all  this  !  It  is  strictly  true,  as  to  the  citizens 

of  the  so-called  free  States.     The  same  doctrine  is 

•   t 

not  without  advocates  at  the  South  ;  whilst  many 
more,  as  we  have  before  stated,  who  may  not  be 
said  to  believe  it,  are  nevertheless  often  the  sub 
jects  of  painful  misgivings.  They  fear  it  may  be 
true.  The  causes  to  which  we  have  traced  this, 
fully  account  for  it  ;  and  we  need  not  fear  to  state 
the  truth.  But  then  again,  the  question  recurs  —  "  « 
How  is  this,  that  the  institution  itself,  a  great 
practical  truth,  should  daily,  for  a  long  series  of 
years,  become  more  and  more  practical  —  a  fixed 
fact  in  the  country  ?  Truly,  this  is  a  phenome 
non  for  which  the  philosophy  of  the  day  will  not 


•--•£-*.••   - 


account.  If  those  who  believed  this  doctrine 
were  ruthless  fanatics — ultra  abolitionists  in  the 
strictest  sense — if  those  who  oppose  it  were  really 
"  pro-slavery"  men,  in  the  bad  sense  in  which  cer 
tain  persons  understand  this  phrase,  that  is,  men 
who,  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  wickedly  do  what 
they  know  and  feel  to  be  wrong :  on  either  hypo 
thesis  we  could  account  for  the  phenomenon  in 
question.  But  these  are  not  the  men  with  whom 
I  deal  in  these  lectures.  I  lay  all  such  out  of  the 
account.  They  are  men  not  to  be  reasoned  with. 
No  :  the  men  of  whom  I  speak,  both  North  and 
South,  are  candid,  honest  men.  I  personally 
know  many  of  them  at  the  North.  I  have  met 
them  on  great  battle-fields,  where  more  than  blood 
was  shed !  I  know  them  to  be  good  men  and 
true,  and  I  believe  the  same  of  the  large  class 
they  represent.  With  many  of  those  at  the 
South  who  affiliate  with  them  in  opinion  as  firm 
believers  in  Jefferson's  doctrine,  or  whose  embryo 
opinions  excite  painful  misgivings  of  mind,  I  have 
often  communed  freely,  and  have  equal  confidence 
in  their  integrity  and  honesty.  The  whole  taken 
together  form  a  very  numerous  class,  and  may  bo 
safely  regarded  as  embodying  the  national  belief 
and  feeling  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  And  yet 
we  find  that  slavery  is  a  great  practical  truth,  a 
fixed  fact  in  the  country.  Now,  can  it  be  true 


OF    SLAVERY.  25 

that  this  opinion  and  feeling  embodies  a  great 
abstract  truth — a  fundamental,  vital,  immutable 
principle,  which  never  did  and  never  can  fail  to 
hold  practical  error  in  check,  because  it  takes  hold 
of  the  conscience  of  an  honest  people — and  whose 
tendency,  therefore,  is  always  to  an  ultimate  prac 
tical  triumph,  with  all  those  who  honestly  receive 
it  ?  We  dare  not  affirm  this. 

It  is  not  mere  belief,  nor  is  it  mere  honesty, 
that  produces  results  in  practice ;  but  it  is  the 
reception  of  the  truth  in  an  honest  heart,  which  can 
never  fail  to  result  in  practice.  Now  in  this  case 
the  people  are  honest,  and  the  people  believe ;  and 
if  it  be  essential  truth  which  they  thus  believe, 
then,  we  say,  the  fact  that  in  all  those  States  of 
this  republic  in  which  climate  and  soil  are  adapted 
to  African  labor — that  precisely  there  the  institu 
tion  of  domestic  slavery  should  be  rooted  in  the 
practice  of  a  large  portion  of  this  believing  and 
honest  people,  and  that  it  should  strike  its  roots 
into  the  federal  constitution,  and  penetrate  deeper 
and  deeper  every  year  into  the  legislation  of  the 
whole  country,  and  thus  implicate  more  and  more 
the  whole  mass  of  this  believing  people  in  the  sin 
of  it,  is  a  phenomenon,  for  which  the  postulate,  that 
it  is  the  truth  they  believe,  does  not  account — nor 
can  it  be  made  to.- account. 

A  false  principle  may  be  believed  to  be  the  truth. 
2 


26  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

And  a  false  principle  believed,  has  its  results,  be 
cause  it  is  believed ;  and  they  very  much  resemble 
the  results  of  truth  believed.  But  we  dare  not 
admit  that  error  can  take  hold  of  the  conscience  as 
pure  principle,  essential  truth  will  do  it.  But, 
again,  there  is  another  great  psychological  fact, 
which  is  often  overlooked.  A  false  principle  may 
be  honestly  believed  by  minds  which,  at  the  same 
time,  adopt  antagonistic  principles  that  are  essen 
tial  truths ;  but,  owing  to  various  causes  calculated 
to  confuse  the  ideas,  the  inconsistency  is  not  per 
ceived.  Now,  in  such  a  case  as  this,  the  principle 
of  essential  truth  is  really  brought  into  practical 
antagonism  with  essential  error,  and  that  in  the 
same  minds  and  upon  the  same  subject.  And  as 
truth  is  more  powerful  than  error  in  the  minds  of 
all  honest  people,  the  truth  holds  its  way  in  prac 
tical  results,  in  defiance  of  false  principle,  which  is 
relatively  powerless  in  the  presence  of  truth. 
The  antagonism  between  the  false  principle  and 
the  practical  results  of  things  may  be  perceived 
and  acknowledged ;  whilst  the  antagonism  of  the 
false  principle  with  the  true  principle,  which 
underlies  and  produces  these  practical  results  by  a 
law  of  its  own  operation,  is  not  only  not  perceived, 
but  actually  denied  to  exist.  Now  so  long  as  this 
false  principle  is  honestly  believed  to  be  true,  and 
clearly  perceived  to  be  in  conflict  with  the  practice. 


OF    SLAVERY.  27 

but  not  perceived  to  be  in  conflict  with  other  and 
more  latent  principles,  which  are  in  themselves 
truths,  and  admitted  to  be  truths,  and  which  pro 
duce  this  practice,  just  so  long  will  this  false  prin 
ciple  wage  war,  by  the  simple  law  of  belief,  against 
this  practice.  But  as  this  war  is  not  sufficiently 
potent  to  overturn  this  practice,  because  it  is 
founded  on  the  belief  of  principles  true  in  them 
selves,  the  practice  will  remain;  and  so  long  as 
this  false  belief  remains,  the  strife  with  the  practice 
must  remain.  Hence,  if  this  be  the  state  of  the 
public  mind  in  this  country  on  the  subject  of 
African  slavery,  and  it  find  no  efficient  remedy, 
we  can  see  nothing  awaiting  us  but  intermin 
able  strife — men  against  themselves — the  country 
against  the  country !  We  forbear  to  sketch  the 
future. 

But,  young  gentlemen,  I  submit  if  this  psy 
chology  may  not  furnish  a  solution  of  the  pheno 
mena  I  have  brought  to  your  notice,  and  also  a 
remedy  against  that  otherwise  interminable  strife 
which  has  already  done  so  much  to  impair  the 
moral  power  and  blight  the  fairest  hopes  of  the 
country.  May  it  not  be  that  in  admitting  the 
great  abstract  doctrine  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  that  the 
principle  of  African  slavery  is,  per  se,  sinful,  and 
that,  as  such,  the  attributes  and  providence  of  Deity 
are  opposed  to  ah1  who  practice  it,  we  have  most 


28  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

unwisely  admitted  a  false  doctrine  ?  And  as  this 
false  doctrine,  though  honestly  believed  by  a 
number  sufficiently  large  to  designate  it  as  the 
national  belief  and  the  national  feeling,  has 
utterly  failed  to  abolish  or  even  to  modify  the 
institution  of  African  slavery,  does  it  not  afford  a 
strong  and  clear  presumption,  to  say  the  least, 
that  this  system  which  has  held  unbroken  domi 
nion  over  the  African  race  in  this  country  for  over 
two  centuries,  and  which  continues  to  strike  its 
roots  deeper  and  deeper  into  all  the  relations  of 
society,  North  and  South — that  this  system,  so 
potent  in  practical  results,  and  so  heedless  of  the 
fierce  war  that  is  waged  against  it,  is,  after  all, 
underlaid  somewrhere  by  a  vast  mine  of  principles — 
pure  essential  truths — which  are  firmly  rooted  in  the 
belief  of  all  civilized  and  honest  men,  and  which, 
all  along,  have  imparted  a  spontaneous  being  and 
activity  to  the  system,  and  will  continue  to  do  so 
perhaps  as  long  as  any  considerable  portion  of  the 
race  shall  remain  in  the  country  ? 

If  this  hypothesis  shall  prove  true,  the  sovereign 
remedy  for  the  otherwise  interminable  strife,  so 
potent  for  mischief,  is  at  hand.  Let  us  then  free 
ourselves,  let  us  free  the  country,  of  the  dominion 
of  Mr.  Jefferson's  philosophy,  because  it  is  false. 
In  doing  this,  we  shall  terminate  the  conflict  which 
now  rages  with  so  much  violence.  We  shall  be 


OF    SLAVERY.  29 

free  to  address  ourselves  to  any  modifications  in 
the  system  of  African  slavery  which  may  be  de 
manded  to  adapt  it  to  the  progress  of  civilization. 

Regarding  the  whole  subject  in  this  light,  the 
duty  of  thoroughly  investigating  it  seems  to  me 
to  be  laid  upon  the  country  as  a  moral  necessity. 
It  is  useless  to  talk  of  "  delicacy  and  humiliation," 
in  the  presence  of  such  fruits  as  a  false  philosophy 
has  already  borne  plentifully  throughout  the  land. 

As  your  chosen  instructor,  I  owe  you  a  service. 
I  dare  not  give  up  your  minds  to  the  dominion  of 
Wayland's  Philosophy,  (your  text,)  nor  to  any 
other  text  on  this  subject,  now  known  to  the 
country.  I  propose  to  lead  your  way  in  exploring 
the  mine  of  truth  which  we  may  assume  to  under 
lie  the  system  of  African  slavery.  We  may  look 
with  confidence  to  reach  these  results  : 

1.  That  the  philosophy  of  Jeiferson  is  fa]se,  and 
that  the  opposite  is  true,  namely,  that  the  great 
abstract  principle  of  domestic  slavery  is,  per  se, 
RIGHT  ;  and  therefore  it  is  not  in  the  use  but  in 
the  abuse  of  this  principle  that  we  are  liable  to 
sin,  and  thereby  incur  the  Divine  displeasure. 

2.  That  we  should  have  a  Southern  literature. 
Our  schools  must  be  supplied  with  correct  text 
books   on  this   subject.      The    poison  which  our 
texts  now  contain  must  be  distilled  from  them  by 
the  learned  of  the  land.     The  Church  should  not 


30  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

only  right  herself  as  she  has  done  in  the  South, 
but  her  voice  should  be  heard  in  the  pulpit 
enforcing  right  principles,  as  well  as  right  duties, 
upon  this  subject.  Truth  is  at  all  times  intoler 
ant  of  any  abuse.  Her  voice  should  certainly  be 
heard  under  circumstances  so  urgent  as  the  pre 
sent.  It  is  due  to  many  in  Southern  communities 
whose  minds  are,  more  or  less,  disturbed  by  the 
long-continued  abuse  of  the  pulpit,  and  the  social 
influence  of  mistaken  ministers  of  religion  in  pri 
vate  life.  It  is  due  to  the  interests  of  our  common 
country.  We  have  lost  much  already  in  suppress 
ing  the  truth.  We  have  much  to  gain  by  boldly 
assertiiiK  her  claims — for  "  truth  is  great,  and  will 
prevail," 

Truth  crushed  to  earth  will  rise  again : 
The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers  ; 

But  Error,  wounded,  writhes  in  pain, 
And  dies  amid  her  worshippers." 


OF    SLAVERY.  31 


LECTURE    II. 

THE    ABSlTiiCT  PRINCIPLE   OF   THE   INSTITUTION   OF 
DOMESTIC    SLAVERY. 

If  the  system  be  sinful,  per  se,  the  sin  of  it  must  be  found  in  tho 
principle — Is  the  principle  sinful? — The  principle  denned — 
Objections  to  the  term  submission  answered — The  effect  of  Mr. 
Jefferson's  doctrine  upon  many  conscientious  persons  in  the 
Southern  States. 

I  NOW  propose  to  enter  directly  upon  the  in 
quiry,  Is  the  institution  of  domestic  slavery  sinful  ? 
My  plan  will  make  it  necessary,  in  this  lecture, 
to  limit  the  inquiry  to  the  principle  of  the  institu 
tion.  If  the  institution  be  sinful,  it  must  be  so 
either  in  the  abstract  principle  it  involves,  or  in 
the  specific  form  under  which  it  embodies  that 
principle,  or  in  both.  In  either  case,  Mr.  JelFer- 
son's  doctrine  is  verified  ;  for  if  the  abstract  prin 
ciple  be  wrong,  then  the  institution  which  envel 
ops  the  principle,  and  from  which  it  derives  its 
character,  is  of  course  wrong.  It  certainly  is 
never  right  to  act  upon  a  wrong  principle.  Irijus- 


32  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

tice,  as  a  principle,  is  confessedly  wrong  in  itself, 
according  to  the  ideas  of  all  mankind.  No  form 
which  an  action  can  take  will  make  it  right,  if  it 
proceed  upon  an  unjust  principle.  Hence,  no  cir 
cumstances  can  justify  any  man  in  knowingly 
doing  an  act  of  injustice.  If  the  institution  of 
domestic  slavery  envelops  the  idea  of  injustice, 
or  any  similar  element,  as  its  generic  or  abstract 
principle,  in  such  case  it  would  certainly  be  wrong 
both  in  principle  and  in  practice ;  that  is,  wrong 
in  itself;  and  we  should,  without  scruple,  abandon 
the  controversy.  But  a  similar  conclusion  will 
not  follow  from  a  contrary  proposition ;  that  is,  it 
will  not  follow,  that  if  the  abstract  principle  of 
the  institution  be  right,  the  institution  itself  is 
right;  because  the  truth  of  a  conditional  proposi 
tion  does  not  turn  on  the  hypothesis,  but  on  the 
consequent,  as  both  true  in  itself  and  dependent 
upon  the  antecedent  condition.  That  this  is  not 
the  case  in  this  instance  is  developed  by  the  fact 
that  the  affirmative  proposition  involved  in  this 
conditional  is,  in  itself,  an  absurdity,  viz.,  "An  ab 
stract  principle  of  action  being  right,  the  action 
itself  is  right."  This  is  absurd.  For  instance, 
justice,  in  itself,  is  a  right  principle  of  action,  ac 
cording  to  the  ideas  of  all  mankind ;  but  it  does 
not  follow  that  all  actions  which  proceed  upon  the 
principle  of  justice  are  right  actions.  A.  justly 


OPSLAVEKY.  33 

owes  B.  one  hundred  dollars  :  now,  to  enforce  the 
payment  of  this  money  would  be  in  itself  a  just 
act,  because  the  money  is  honestly  owed  by  A. ; 
but  if,  in  doing  this,  B.  should  take  the  last  bed 
from  under  the  wife  and  children  of  A.,  and  de 
prive  them  of  the  last  morsel  of  bread,  the  act 
itself  would  be  a  very  wicked  one,  and  he  would 
be  judged  by  mankind  as  but  little  less  guilty 
than  a  highway  robber,  because  this  is  a  case  in 
which  the  claims  of  benevolence  march  before  the 
claims  of  mere  justice.  Not  to  respect  the  claims 
of  benevolence  in  such  a  case  is  to  act  upon  the 
principle  of  pure  selfishness.  This  act,  then,  would 
envelop  also  a  wrong  principle — selfishness ;  and 
it  is  the  nature  of  a  wrong  principle  to  spread  the 
hue  and  poison  of  guilt  over  every  act  into  which 
it  enters.  Truth,  and  its  opposite,  as  principles, 
are  striking  examples.  If  we  speak  at  all,  we 
should  speak  the  truth.  Every  utterance  into 
which,  in  its  proper,  generic  sense,  the  lie  enters, 
even  in  the  least  degree,  is  a  poisoned  act ;  and 
he  who  does  this,  is  to  that  extent  a  basely  wicked 
man,  however  smooth  his  tongue  or  winning  his 
manners.  Guilt  has  poisoned  his  utterance ;  and 
if  this  vice  be  not  speedily  arrested  in  its  progress, 
it  will  spread  itself  through  the  whole  mass,  and 
break  down  his  entire  moral  constitution.  But  it 
does  not  certainly  follow  that  all  utterances  which 

9* 


#  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

are  in  themselves  truths,  are  right  utterances. 
There  are  many  facts,  to  which,  if  we  were  to 
give  utterance,  we  should  only  speak  the  truth, 
but  at  the  same  time  we  all  know  that  they  should 
lie  buried  (perhaps  for  ever)  in  the  depths  of  our 
own  hearts.  To  injure  our  neighbor  by  speaking 
the  truth  when  no  claim  of  paramount  justice  de 
manded  it,  and  the  claims  of  charity  or  kindness 
forbade  it,  would  be  a  wicked  act.  For  a  child  in 
a  similar  way  to  injure  a  parent  would  be  the  con 
duct  of  a  demon.  All  such  acts,  though  they 
envelop  a  right  principle — truth — do  at  the  same 
time  envelop  a  wrong  principle — malevolence;  and 
it  is  the  nature  of  wrong  principle  to  stamp  every 
act  into  which  it  enters  with  the  character  of 
guilt — it  is  wrong. 

The  conclusion  we  reach  is  this  :  If  the  abstract 
or  generic  principle  of  an  action  be  wrong,  the 
action  itself  is  therefore  wrong;  but  that,  if  the 
abstract  principle  be  right,  it  does  not  follow  that 
the  action  is  therefore  right ,  but  that  the  action 
itself  is  either  right  or  wrong,  as  may  be  determined 
by  the  presence  or  absence  of  certain  other  coinci 
dent  principles ;  or,  as  we  usually  say,  as  may  be 
determined  by  the  circumstances. 

If,  then,  the  abstract  principle  of  the  institu 
tion  of  domestic  slavery  be  wrong,  the  institution 
itself  is  wrong,  and  ought  to  be  abolished ;  but  if 


OP    SLAVERY.  35 

the  principle  be  correct,  the  institution  itself  is  or 
is  not  right,  just  as  the  circumstances  of  the  case 
may  or  may  not  require  that  it  be  maintained ;  as 
in  the  case  of  any  other  act  involving  correct  prin 
ciple.  The  points  to  be  settled,  then,  are — 

I.  Is  the  abstract  or  generic  principle  of   do- 
metic  slavery  right  or  wrong  ?     And  if  it  be  right, 
then, 

II.  Is  the  system  (so  far  as  it  is  a  system, 
simply)   of  domestic  slavery,  enveloping  this  ab 
stract  principle,  justified  by  the  circumstances  of 
the  case  ?     If  so,  the  system  itself  is  also  right. 
Whether  many  slaveholders  or  few,  or  any  at  all, 
are  themselves  doing  right  in  the  exercise  of  the 
legal   functions    of    that   relation,    are    questions 
foreign  from  the  present  inquiries,  even  on  the 
hypothesis  that  the  system  itself  is  right.     Their 
conduct,  be  it  right  or  wrong,  (and  in  many  cases 
it  is  right,  and  in  many  others  it  is    no  doubt 
wrong,)  does  not  at  all  affect  the  truth  or  error  of 
the  questions  now  before  us.     It  is  not  with  the 
conduct  of  individual  men  that  we  now  deal ;  but 
with  the  act  of  that  great  being,  the  State — the 
system  of  African  slavery  established  by  law  in 
the  country — and  with  that  profound  principle  of 
truth  or  error  which  not  only  makes  it  a  system* 
but  makes  it  a  right  system  or  a  wrong  system, 
as  the  case  may  be. 


36  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

The  philosophy  which  prevails  on  the  question 
before  us  has  originated  two  schools — the  abo 
litionist  and  the  anti-slavery.  The  abolitionist 
maintain  that  the  abstract  principle  of  the  system 
is  wrong,  and  that  therefore  the  system  itself  is 
wrong  under  all  circumstances.  The  anti-slavery 
school  agree  with  the  abolitionist  that  the  princi 
ple  is  wrong,  but  divide  among  themselves  as  to 
the  conclusion  they  draw.  Some  hold  that  the 
institution  itself  is  not  wrong  under  all  circum 
stances,  and  that  therefore  slaves  may  be  held 
under  it  in  given  cases  without  guilt ;  and  others, 
that  the  institution  is  wrong  in  itself,  and  should  be 
abolished  by  the  State,  but  that  the  holding  of 
slaves  under  this  wrong  system  is  not  an  act  in 
itself  wrong  in  all  cases. 

A  strict  analysis  of  the  subject  will  show  that 
here  is  a  strange  medley  of  principles  and  conclu 
sions.  I  shall  be  found  to  agree  with  each,  and 
to  disagree  with  each.  I  disagree  with  both  on 
the  abstract  principle.  Hence,  I  disagree  with  the 
abolitionists  on  the  whole  proposition.  But  I 
agree  with  the  abolitionists  that  IF  the  abstract 
principle  be  ivrong,  the  institution  is  wrong  in  all 
cases.  I  say  with  them  that  all  who  grant  the 
antecedent  of  this  conditional  are  bound  to  admit 
the  consequent.  Hence  I  disagree  with  the  anti- 
slavery  school  in  admitting  that  the  principle  is 


OF    SLAVERY.  87 

wrong ;  but  in  so  far  as  they  admit  that  the  sys 
tem  may  be  right  under  given  circumstances,  or 
that  slaves  may  be  held  under  it  without  guilt,  we 
agree.  I  stand,  therefore,  committed  to  the  affirm 
ative  of  the  question,  both  in  regard  to  the  prin 
ciple  and  to  the  institution,  and  hence  proceed  to 
discuss  the  question  : 

I.  Is  the  abstract  principle  of  domestic  slavery 
right  or  wrong  ? 

I  have  already  noticed  that  the  public  mind 
has  been  so  long  abused  on  this  subject,  that  it  is 
usual  for  highly  intelligent  persons,  who  have  no 
idea  of  affirming  that  the  slaveholder  is  necessarily 
a  sinner,  to  allow  that  slaveholding  is  wrong  in 
principle.  But  this,  to  say  the  least,  is  a  strange 
abuse  of  terms.  The  right  or  wrong  of  an  action, 
in  itself  considered,  is  determined  by  the  principle 
which  it  envelops,  and  the  moral  character  of  the 
actor  is  determined  by  his  intention  in  the  per 
formance,  or  by  his  voluntary  or  involuntary 
ignorance  of  the  principle.  It  is  reasonable,  there 
fore,  to  infer  that  the  public  attach  no  well-defined 
meaning  to  the  phrase,  the  abstract  principle  of 
slavery.  Its  definite  meaning,  however,  is  indis 
pensable  in  this  investigation ;  and,  indeed,  on  all 
occasions,  if  we  would  speak  correctly,  and  avoid 
a  misapplication  of  this  term. 


38  PHILOSOPHY    AND     PRACTICE 

What,  then,  is  the  principle  of  the  system  of 
domestic  slavery  ? 

Observe  that  it  is  the  principle  for  which  we 
inquire.  What,  then,  is  the  system  itself?  For 
(to  speak  with  strict  philosophical  propriety)  our 
idea  of  the  system  is  the  chronological  condition 
of  our  idea  of  the  principle,  as  our  idea  of  the 
principle  is  the  logical  condition  of  our  idea  of 
the  system.  We  must  perceive  an  action  before 
we  can  determine  what  is  the  principle  of  it, 
although  we  must  have  an  antecedent  knowledge 
of  the  principle  before  we  can  determine  what 
character  that  principle  gives  to  the  action, 

The  system  is  made  up  of  two  correlative  rela 
tions — master  and  slave.  Here  there  are  but  two 
ideas — the  idea  of  master  and  the  idea  of  slave,  as 
correlatives.  These  are  all  the  ideas  that  enter 
into  the  system,  as  a  system  merely.  Whatever 
abstract  principle,  therefore,  this  system  envel 
ops,  is  to  be  found  in  these  two  terms.  It  need 
not  and  should  not  be  sought  for  anywhere  else ; 
for.  these  two  relations  make  the  whole  system. 
Without  these  it  could  not  be  a  system  of  slavery; 
and  with  these,  it  is  therein,  and  in  virtue  of  that 
fact  alone,  a  system  of  slavery.  The  answer  to 
the  cjuestion  depends  upon  the  meaning  of  these 
terms  alone.  What,  then,  is  the  correlative 
meaning  of  these  terms  ? 


OF    SLAVERY.  39 

"MASTER.  The  Latin  is  magister,  compounded 
of  the  root  of  magis,  major,  greater;  and  the  Teu 
tonic,  ster,  Saxon,  steoran,  to  steer"  The  word, 
then,  signifies  a  chief  director — one  who  governs  or 
directs  either  men  or  business.  The  leading  idea  is 
that  of  governor  by  his  own  will. 

SLAVE.  The  derivation  of  this  word  is  not  a 
settled  question.  There  is  no  difficulty,  how 
ever,  in  fixing  the  meaning — one  who  is  subject 
to  the  will  or  direction  of  another. 

As  a  concrete,  master  means  one  who  is  govern 
ing  in  some  particular  instance  or  form  by  his  own 
will ;  and  slave,  one  who  is  so  governed  in  some 
particular  instance.  But  these  are  abstract  terms. 
The  ideas  they  convey  may  be  conceived  and  held 
in  the  mind,  apart  from  any  particular  application 
of  the  one  or  the  other.  And  whether  they  are 
considered  as  abstract  or  concrete  terms,  they  are 
correlatives — the  one  implies  the  other. 

A  system  of  slavery  is  a  state  or  order  of  things 
established  by  law  or  custom,  in  which  one  set  of 
men  are  the  masters  to  a  given  extent,  and  another 
are  the  slaves  to  that  extent. 

Domestic  slavery  is  an  instance  in  which  the 
order  or  state  of  things  constituting  the  system 
itself,  is  made  a  part  of  the  family  relation.  The 
head  of  the  family  is  the  master,  and  the  slave  is 
subject,  as  to  the  use  of  his  time  and  labor,  to  the 


40  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

control  of  the  master,  as  the  other  members  of  the 
family.  Domestic  slavery,  therefore,  is  one  of  the 
forms  of  the  general  system  of  slavery.  The  sys 
tem  has  existed  under  various  forms.  The  ancient 
system  of  villanage  in  England,  of  serfdom  in 
Russia,  the  peon  system  of  Mexico,  as  well  as 
domestic,  slavery  in  the  United  States,  are  all  ex 
amples  of  slavery  proper.  This  leads  us  to  re 
mark  that  the  terms  master  and  slave  are  not  only 
abstract  but  general  abstract  terms  :  general,  be 
cause  the  abstract  ideas  they  convey  are  common 
to  each  of  these  conditions.  Each  of  these  sys 
tems  is  pervaded  by  generic  principles  or  ideas, 
which  classify  the  whole  as  belonging  to  the  same 
genus' — system  of  slavery.  The  abstract  principle 
of  slavery  is  therefore  the  general  idea,  which  is 
enveloped  alike  in  each  and  every  form  or  system 
of  slavery.  Hence,  as  the  abstract  idea  of  master 
is  governing  by  one's  own  will,  and  that  of  slave 
is  submission  or  subjection  to  such  control ;  and 
as  a  system  of  slavery  is  a  condition  into  which 
these  ideas  enter  in  correlation — it  follows  that 
the  abstract  principle  of  slavery  is  the  general  prin 
ciple  of  submission  or  subjection  to  control  by  the  will 
of  another.  This  is  the  fundamental  idea  which 
is  common  to  every  form  of  slavery.  No  condi 
tion  into  which  this  does  not  enter  as  a  funda 
mental  idea  is  a  state  of  slavery.  Every  condition 


OF    SLAVERY.  41 

into  which  it  enters  is  a  state  of  slavery  to  the 
extent  in  which  it  does  so  enter. 

Submission  or  subjection  to  control  by  the  will  of 
another  being  our  definition  of  the  abstract  princi 
ple  of  the  system  of  slavery,  two  questions  arise : 
First — Is  this  a  correct  definition  ?  and  second — 
If  it  be  correct^  is  it  a  sound,  legitimate  principle, 
which  may  and  ought  to  be  adopted  in  practice, 
whenever  it  may  be  wise  to  do  so  ? 

First — Is  the  definition  correct? 

Subjection  is  the  being  put  under  the  control  ot 
another.  Submission  is  the  delivery  of  one's  self  to 
the  control  of  another.  The  one  implies  the  con 
sent  of  the  will,  and  the  other  does  not.  That 
subjection  is  an  idea  which  fulfils  the  condition  of 
slavery  will  not  be  disputed  by  any.  Hence  our 
definition  is  sufficiently  wide  to  embrace  that 
which  is  conceded  by  all.  But  our  definition 
gives  much  greater  breadth  to  the  principle.  It 
takes  in  submission  as  well  as  subjection.  It  as 
sumes  that  the  willing  or  the  nilling  of  the  sub 
ject  of  this  form  of  control  does  not  necessarily 
enter  into  the  principle  which  logically  defines  it. 
He  who  is  subjected  to  such  control  is  a  slave ; 
and  he  who  submits  to  such  control  is  not  the  less 
so.  This  principle  might  therefore  be  still  further 
generalized — control  ly  the  tvill  of  another,  with  its 
correlative  idea  submission  or  subjection  only  iin- 


4:2  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

plied.  But  we  prefer  to  define  it  in  the  terms 
employed,  as  being  more  likely  to  be  appreciated 
>n  the  sense  intended.  Are  we  correct  in  giving 
this  wide  compass  of  meaning  to  the  principle  in 
question  ?  Do  we  assume  too  much  when  we  say 
that  a  man  is  not  the  less  a  captive,  and  subject 
to  the  control  of  the  captor,  because  he  volunta 
rily  gives  himself  up  as  such  ?  Is  a  man  then  the 
less  a  slave  who  voluntarily  consents  to  be  con 
trolled  by  the  will  of  another  ?  The  popular  use 
of  terms  in  all  languages  shows  that  mankind  have 
conceded  this  point.  They  all  apply  the  idea  of 
slave  to  such  a  case.  Nay,  more,  they  furnish  a 
constructive  meaning  of  the  term  based  upon  this 
meaning.  They  call  a  man  a  "  slave  to  his  pas 
sions,"  who  has  voluntarily  given  himself  up  to  be 
controlled  in  his  future  volitions  by  his  passions 
as  the  subjective  motive  of  his  actions.  "  No 
bondage  is  more  grievous  than  that  which  is  vol 
untary,"  says  Seneca.  "  To  be  a  slave  to  the 
passions  is  more  grievous  than  to  be  a  slave  to  a 
tyrant,"  says  Pythagoras.  "  No  one  can  be  free 
who  is  intent  on  the  indulgence  of  evil  passions," 
says  Plato.  And  Cicero  says,  "All  wicked  men 
are  slaves."  St.  Paul,  Rom.  vi.  16,  uses  the  term 
in  the  same  sense,  and  with  the  greatest  propri 
ety  :  "  Know  ye  not  that  to  whom  ye  yield 
yourselves  servants  [dovAov?,  slaves]  to  obey,  his 


OP    SLAVERY.  43 

servants  [slaves]  ye  are  to  whom  ye  obey ; 
whether  of  sin  unto  death,  or  obedience  unto  right 
eousness  ?"  (See  Dr.  A.  Clarke,  in  loc.)  And 
again,  Ephesians  vL  5-7 :  "  Servants,  [doi&ot,] 
be  obedient  to  them  that  are  your  masters  accord 
ing  to  the  flesh,  with  fear  and  trembling,  in  single 
ness  of  your  hearts  as  unto  Christ :  not  with  eye- 
service,  as  men-pleasers,  but  as  the  servants  of 
Christ,  doing  the  will  of  God  from  the  heart ;  with 
good  will  doing  service,  as  to  the  Lord,  and  not  to 
men."  Doing  the  will  of  God — ivith  good  will.  We 
must  certainly  understand  that  it  was  the  duty  of 
those  slaves  to  give  both  assent  and  consent  to 
their  condition,  as  a  thing  coming  to  them  in  the 
order  of  God's  providence,  and  pleasing  to  him; 
and  therefore  serve  their  masters  with  the  same 
willing  obedience,  because  therein  they  were  serv 
ing  the  Lord.  For  these  persons,  we  may  sup 
pose,  were  originally  made  slaves  by  subjection. 
They  are  exhorted  to  submit  themselves  not  only 
to  the  particular  commands  of  their  masters,  but 
also  to  their  providential  condition.  The  com 
mands  of  their  masters  might  be  obeyed  from 
mere  prudential  considerations.  In  this  case, 
their  obedience  would  be  without  the  religious 
element.  Paul  exhorts  them  to  religious  obedi 
ence.  Many,  no  doubt,  obeyed  :  gave  the  consent 
of  their  wills,  as  they  gave  the  assent  of  their 


44  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

understandings ;  and  hence,  cheerfully  submitting 
to  their  providential  condition  as  from  the  Lord, 
they  obeyed  their  masters  "  in  singleness  of  heart, 
as  unto  Christ."  They  submitted,  as  any  other 
good  man  submits,  with  consent  as  well  as  assent 
to  his  providential  condition,  and  goes  forth  to  the 
duties  of  that  condition  with  a  cheerful  heart. 
Their  condition  was  therefore  changed  from  that 
of  subjection  to  one  of  submission,  and  for  as  long  a 
time  as  God  might  be  pleased  to  continue  it.  Did 
they,  by  reason  of  such  submission,  cease  to  be 
slaves  ?  Certainly  not.  They  were  slaves  when 
in  a  state  of  subjection.  They  were  not  the  less 
so  when,  from  the  high  Christian  motives  com 
manded  by  the  apostle,  their  condition  was 
changed  to  one  of  submission.  Be  this,  however, 
as  it  may,  the  following  case  is  decisive  of  the 
whole  question. '  The  ancient  Jew,  who  gave  him 
self  into  slavery,  was  not  the  less  a  slave  because 
he  did  it  voluntarily;  and  the  Mosaic  law  pro 
vided  that  such  should  be  held  and  treated  as 
slaves  in  perpetuity.  See  Exodus  xxi.  5,  6  :  "And 
if  the  servant  shall  plainly  say,  I  love  my  master, 
my  wife,  and  my  children  :  I  will  not  go  out  free  ; 
then  his  master  shall  bring  him  unto  the  judges : 
he  shall  also  bring  him  unto  the  door,  or  to  the 
door-post;  and » his  master  shall  bore  his  ear 
through  with  an  awl ;  and  lie  shall  serve  him  for 


OFSLAVERY.  45 

ever."  Thus  the  law  of  God  made  a  man  a  slave 
who  became  so  by  his  own  voluntary  act.  A  state 
of  submission,  therefore,  to  control  by  the  will  of 
another,  is  no  less  a  state  of  slavery  than  a  state 
of  subjection.  If  the  state  itself  be  one  of  slavery, 
the  idea,  submission,  which  makes  it  so,  is  in  this 
case  an  element  of  the  system.  Hence,  the  true 
philosophical  definition  of  the  principle,  as  before 
stated,  is  control  by  the  will  of  another,  with  its 
correlative  (subjection,  or  submission,  as  the  case 
might  be)  implied.  It  may  be  the  one;  it  may 
be  the  other ;  and  whichever  it  is  in  a  given  case, 
is  the  mere  logical  accident  of  that  case,  and  does 
not  at  all  affect  the  principle  itself. 

As  the  whole  of  the  abstract  idea  of  the  system 
of  slavery  is  to  be  found  in  the  terms  master  and 
slave  in  correlation ;  and  submission  and  subjection 
to  control  by  the  will  of  another  is  the  whole  idea 
contained  in  the  correlative  sense  of  these  terms, 
(certainly  nothing  more  and  nothing  less,)  the 
definition  given  is  the  whole,  and  nothing  more,  of 
the  abstract  principle  of  the  institution.  Who 
ever  is  in  this  condition  is  to  that  extent  a  slate. 
Whatever  system  envelops  this  principle — it  mat 
ters  not  what  form  it  may  take,  what  coincident 
principles  it  may  include,  or  what  name  may  be 
given  to  it,  or  how  far  the  practical  working  of 
this  principle  may  be  jnodified — it  is  nevertheless 


46  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

to  the  extent  that  this  principle  enters  into  it  a 
system  of  slavery.  It  may  be  a  wise  system,  be 
cause  it  is  a  necessary  means  for  the  accomplish 
ment  of  some  desirable  end  ;  or  it  may  be  an  un 
wise  system,  because  it  is  a  means  unsuited  to  the 
end  proposed.  But  neither  hypothesis  will  at  all 
affect  the  principle.  That  is  the  same  in  the  one 
case  as  in  the  other ;  that  is,  whether  it  be  abused 
or  properly  used,  the  principle  itself  is  the  same. 
But  can  it  be  properly  used  at  all  ?  This  leads  to 
the  second  inquiry — Is  this  a  sound,  legitimate 
principle,  which  may  and  should  be  adopted  in 
practice  whenever  it  may  be  wise  to  do  so  ? 

We  need  not  scruple  to  admit  that  if  injustice 
or  any  similar  idea  should  be  found  to  enter  as  an 
element  into  the  abstract  principle,  it  is  a  poisoned 
principle,  upon  which  no  honest  man  will  allow 
himself  to  act.  But  is  this  the  case  ?  Doubtless, 
there  may  be  injustice  in  slavery,  as  in  every  sys 
tem  which  has  persons  for  its  subjects  :  that  is, 
any  master  acting  under  the  authority  of  this  sys 
tem  may  perpetrate  great  injustice ;  but  we  main 
tain  that  when  he  does  so  he  introduces  a  princi 
ple  foreign  to  the  system,  and  for  which  he  is 
individually  responsible  :  he  does  that  which  mars 
the  character  of  the  whole  performance,  and 
stamps  his  own  personal  conduct  with  the  guilt  of 
injustice.  ^ 


OF     SLAVERY.  47 

However  carelessly  many  persons  are  accus 
tomed  to  speak  on  this  subject,  yet  we  may  assure 
ourselves  that  a  little  reflection  will  satisfy  any 
candid  mind  that  the  principle  is  a  legitimate  one, 
and  cannot  with  any  degree  of  propriety  be  re 
garded  as  sinful.  It  will  readily  occur  to  all 
intelligent  minds,  that  this  principle  enters  more 
or  less  as  an  essential  element  into  every  form  of 
human  government.  No  government  can  be  appro 
priate  to  human  beings,  in  their  present  fallen  con 
dition,  that  does  not  embody  this  generic  element 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree. 

A  form  of  control,  clearly  embodying  the  idea 
of  government,  and  at  the  same  time  conferring 
absolute  freedom,  is  a  solecism.  '  If  men  would 
uniformly  govern  themselves  aright  by  their  own 
wills,  there  could  be  no  necessity  for  government, 
or  room  for  its  exercise,  at  least  in  the  sense  in 
which  we  now  understand  the  term.  A  govern 
ment  adapted  to  such  a  people,  I  allow,  might  be 
without  the  element  of  physical  control,  so  indis 
pensable  in  human  governments.  It  would  be 
(compared  to  human)  a  modification  of  govern 
ment — if  government  it  might  be  called — for  which 
our  language  supplies  no  term.  We  cannot  con 
ceive  it  to  be  appropriate  to  any  intelligences  this 
side  of  the  "  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect  in 
heaven."  These,  we  conceive,  are  sufficiently 


48  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

intelligent  to  understand  clearly  and  correctly  all 
the  duties  appertaining  to  the  various  relations 
they  sustain,  and  so  perfected  in  moral  feeling  as 
to  fulfil  these  duties  from  the  impulses  of  their 
own  spontaneous  volitions.  Government,  as  it  may 
be  understood  and  applied  to  such  intelligences , 
must  be  essentially  different  from  that  which  is 
appropriate  to  beings  of  arbitrary  volition;  and 
who,  therefore,  should  be  held  to  accountability  in 
the  exercise  of  their  freedom  by  the  most  rigid 
restrictions  from  penal  sanctions.  To  these  latter 
a  government  that  did  not  embody  the  principle  of 
slavery  would  be  no  government  at  all. 

Authoritative  control,  with  its  correlative,  (ac 
cording  to  the  more  general  classification  given,) 
is  the  abstract  principle  of  slavery.  But  a  state 
of  freedom  is  the  opposite  of  a  state  of  slavery. 
The  abstract  principle  of  a  state  of  freedom  or 
liberty  is,  therefore,  the  opposite  to  that  of  sla 
very.  Hence  self-control  is  the  abstract  principle 
of  freedom,  as  its  opposite — control  by  another — is 
the  principle  of  slavery. 

Now  every  government  adapted  to  fallen  beings 
whose  personal  or  mental  liberty  consists  in  arbi 
trary  volition,  is  necessarily  a  combination  of 
these  two  opposite  elements — the  principle  of 
freedom  and  the  principle  of  slavery.  Either  of 
these  entering  alone  into  the  system  of  govern- 


OF    SLAVERY.  49 

ment,  would  in  the  end  defeat  the  legitimate  ob 
ject  of  government — the  happiness  of  the  people, 
If  the  government  were  based  upon  the  principle 
of  freedom  alone,  allowing  every  man  the  unre 
stricted  liberty  of  self-control,  the  wildest  anarchy 
would  result :  if  to  avoid  this  the  opposite  prin 
ciple  should  be  adopted,  allowing  no  liberty  of 
self-control,  but  subjecting  all  to  control  by  the 
will  of  another,  it  would  be  found  as  impracticable 
as  the  other  was  disastrous,  and,  as  far  as  success 
ful,  only  appropriate  to  idiots  and  infants.  A 
good  government  is  such  a  harmonious  union  of 
these  opposing  elements,  as  adapts  it  to  the  wants 
of  the  people.  For  as,  in  chemistry,  elements  in 
opposite  states  of  electricity  unite  and  form  valu 
able  compounds,  so  in  political  science,  antago 
nistic  principles  enter  necessarily  into  the  composi 
tion  of  government.  The  character  or  kind  of  the 
government  is  defined  by  the  ratios  in  which  these 
elements  enter  into  its  formation.  If  the  principle 
of  slavery  enter  very  largely  into  the  government, 
in  a  highly  consolidated  form,  it  is  then  an  abso 
lute  monarchy  or  military  despotism.  If  tiie 
exercise  of  this  supreme  power  is  distributed 
among  the  heads  of  families,  it  assumes  the  patri 
archal  or  domestic  form.  If  this  principle  enter 
in  a  less  degree,  but  still  in  a  much  greater  degree 
than  the  principle  of  serf-control,  some  one  of  the 
3 


50  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

formtf  of  constitutional  monarchy  or  hereditary 
aristocracy  will  result.  If  these  opposite  prin 
ciples  enter  into  the  government  in  somewhat 
equal  ratios,  it  is  then  a  democratic  republic — a 
well-balanced  government — such  as  ours  is  de 
signed  to  be.  Hence  we  see  that  God  has  ren 
dered  the  blessing  of  civil  freedom  inseparable 
from  the  presence  and  operation  of  the  principle 
of  slavery.  Such  is  the  present  arrangement, 
that  government  can  no  otherwise  secure  freedom 
to -its  subjects  than  by  abridging  them  to  a  cer 
tain  extent  of  self-control ;  or,  in  other  words, 
government  must  place  its  subjects  under  the 
operation  of  the  principle  of  slavery  in  some 
things,  the  more  effectually  to  secure  their  practi 
cal  freedom  in  other  things.  And  the  citizen  who 
may  be  determined  not  to  submit  to  this  order  of 
things^  and  shall  persist  to  do,  from  the  action  of 
a  depraved  will,  what  the  State — Ms  master — 
says  he  shall  not  do,  will,  sooner  or  later,  find 
himself  reduced  to  a  condition  of  most  abject 
slavery,  within  the  walls  of  a  public  prison. 

It  is  entirely  obvious  that  a  government,  to 
secure  the  highest  amount  of  happiness  to  its  sub 
jects,  must  be  adapted  to  their  social  and  moral 
condition.  This  adaptation,  as  before  intimated, 
can  only  be  effected  by  the  ratios ,  in  which  the 
antagonistic  elements  of  liberty  and  of  slavery  shah1 


OF    SLAVERY.  51 

enter  into  the  composition  of  the  government. 
Now  this  is  virtually  the  position,  after  all,  of  a 
no  less  distinguished  abolitionist  and  literary  man 
than  Dr.  Wayland,  the  author  of  your  text.  On 
the  subject  "  of  the  mode  in  which  the  objects  of 
society  are  accomplished"  after  bringing  to  view  the 
different  forms  of  government — "wholly  heredi 
tary  " — "  partly  hereditary" — "  partly  elective" — 
and  "  wholly  elective" — he  asks,  "  Which  of  these 
is  the  preferable  form  of  government  ?"  and  adds, 
"  The  answer  must  be  conditional.  The  best  form 
of  government  for  any  people,  is  the  best  that  its 
present  moral  and  social  condition  render  practicable. 
A  people  may  be  so  entirely  surrendered  to  the  in 
fluence  of  passion,  and  so  feebly  influenced  by  moral 
restraint,  that  a  government  which  relied  on  moral 
restraint  could  not  exist  for  a  day.  In  this  case 
a  subordinate  and  inferior  principle  yet  remains — 
the  principle  of  fear ;  and  the  only  resort  is  to  a 
government  of  force,  or  a  military  despotism." 
Now  what  is  all  this  but  a  statement  of  the  great 
truth  which  we  have  already  discussed,  only  in 
different  terms,  that  a  government  over  a  people, 
in  the  moral  and  social  condition  described  by  Dr. 
Wayland,  which  relied  upon  " moral  restraint" 
that  is,  upon  the  principle  of  self-control,  "  could 
not  exist  for  a  day ;"  and  that  for  such  a  people, 
"  the  only  resort  is  to  a  government  of  force,  or  a 


52        PHILOSOPHY  AND  PRACTICE 

military  despotism" — that  is,  the  Ugliest  conceiv 
able  form  or  system  of  slavery.  Now  this  is  said, 
by  Dr.  Wayland,  after  waging  a  relentless  war 
against  both  the  principle  and  practice  of  slavery ! 
Is  not  this  an  instance  in  which  a  great  and  honest 
mind,  having  adopted  certain  false  notions  in  an 
tagonism  with  the  system  of  slavery,  wars  against 
this  system ;  whilst,  at  the  same  time,  this  system 
is  underlaid,  even  in  his  own  method  of  reasoning, 
by  a  vast  mine  of  fundamental  principles  which, 
in  spite  of  him,  give  it  both  being  and  activity  ? 
Why  need  one  so  learned  as  Dr.  Wayland  allow 
the  truth  to  escape  his  notice,  because  in  one  con 
nection  it  wears  the  livery  of  one  form  of  words, 
and  in  another  connection  very  properly  assumes 
the  livery  of  a  different  form  of  language  ? 

To  proceed :  History  informs  us  of  many  such 
communities  as  those  defined  by  Dr.  Wayland,  to 
which  any  other  form  of  government  would  be 
entirely  inappropriate  but  the  one  he  calls  a 
"government  of  force  or  a  military  despotism" 
which  is  none  other  than  the  very  highest  form 
of  slavery.  And  your  own  good  sense,  young 
gentlemen,  must  assure  you  that  it  would  be 
grossly  absurd  to  confer  on  reckless  boys  of  fif 
teen,  or  a  mass  of 'stupid  pagans,  all  the  rights  of 
free  citizens  of  this  great  republic.  No  :  the  one 
class  should  be  retained  under  the  slavery  (for  let 


OF    SLAVERY.  58 

us  not  scruple  to  call  things  by  their  right  names) 
of  authoritative  control  by  their  parents ;  and  the 
other  should  be  subjected  to  the  operation  of  the 
same  general  principle  by  the  State.  And  to 
adopt  Dr.  Wayland's  own  language  on  this  point 
— suicidal  as  it  is  to  him — we  add,  in  regard  to 
such-  citizens  as  are  "  entirety  surrendered  to  the 
influence  of  passion"  that  "  after  a  government  of 
force  has  been  established,  and  habits  of  subor 
dination  have  been  formed,  while  the  moral  re 
straints  are  yet  too  feeble  for  self-government,  an 
hereditary  government,  which  addresses  itself  to 
the  imagination,  and  strengthens  itself  by  the  influ 
ence  of  domestic  connections  and  established  usage, 
may  be  as  good  a  form  of  government  as  they  can 
sustain.  As  they  advance  in  intellectual  and 
moral  cultivation,  it  may  advantageously  become 
more  and  more  elective ;  and  in  a  suitable  moral 
condition,  it  may  be  wholly  so."  Now,  to  vary 
the  language  in  which  these  important  facts  are 
expressed,  so  as  to  bring  out  the  great  philosophi 
cal  principles  which  so  evidently  underlie  them, 
we  would  say,  that  when  the  government  adapted 
to  an  ignorant  and  depraved  people  has  operated 
under  wise  appliances  to  form  habits  of  subordina 
tion  among  the  masses,  a  modification  of  the  ele 
ments  of  government  is  indicated  as  best  suited 
to  their  condition.  Some  one  of  the  forms  of 


54       PHILOSOPHY  AND  PRACTICE 

hereditary  government  may  be  adopted.  In  this 
government,  the  principle  of  slavery  is  made  to 
operate  less  actively,  and  there  is  more  room  for 
the  play  of  the  opposite  principle  of  self-control. 
But  as  the  moral  principle  is  yet  too  feeble  for 
self-government  proper,  it  is  still  held  in  strong 
check  by  its  antagonistic  principle — the  principle 
of  slavery*.  As  they  advance  in  intellectual  and 
moral  cultivation,  a  further  modification  of  the 
relative  operation  of  these  principles  is  indicated 
as  proper.  It  may  become  more  and  more  elec 
tive  :  that  is,  more  and  more  of  a  democratic  re 
public  ;  and  in  a  suitable  moral  condition  it  may 
be  wholly  so :  that  is,  a  government  in  which  the 
principle  of  slavery  and  the  principle  of  liberty  ope 
rate  in  about  equal  ratios.  We  call  this  a  well- 
balanced  government.  If  it  fulfil  this  condition, 
it  is  because  these  opposing  principles  so  check 
and  counterpoise  each  other  that  the  government 
is  not  likely  to  be  unbalanced.  One  holds  the 
other  in  equUibrio.  The  principle  of  self-control  is 
in  such  vigorous  operation  among  the  masses,  and 
so  craned  up  to  a  vigilant  activity  by  coincident 
forces  derived  from  intelligence  and  interest,  that 
the  principle  of  slavery — control  by  the  will  of 
another,  which  in  this  instance  is  the  will  of  the 
majority — is  not  competent,  according  to  the  theory 
of  this  government,  to  override  and  crush  the 


OF    SLAVERY.  55 

liberties  of  the  country.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
principle  of  slavery,  which  is  the  great  practical 
force  of  the  government,  enfeebled  as  it  is  by  a 
prevailing  popular  enthusiasm  for  the  widest  free 
dom,  and  deriving  no  present  aid  from  interest, 
finds  this  deficiency  so  fully  supplied  by  the  fact 
that  its  impersonation  is  the  tvill  of  the  majority, 
that  it  is  competent  to  resist  the  most  violent 
shocks  which  may  come  up  from  the  misguided 
self-control  of  the  masses.  How  often  have  we 
seen,  in  the  history  of  our  glorious  republic,  the 
excited  passions  of  the  masses,  misdirecting  their 
power  of  self-control,  sweep  like  a  hurricane  over 
the  bosom  of  our  political  sea,  and  lash  the  waters 
into  a  storm  that  threatened  to  engulf  the  hopes 
of  the  nation  !  But  so  vital,  and  go  active  was  that 
principle  which  constitutes  the  true  force  of  the 
government,  that  that  great  ideal,  the  State — the 
"  Ship  of  State  !" — outrode  the  tempest  in  perfect 
safety ;  and  last,  as  first,  the  flag  of  liberty  still 
streamed  from  the  mast-head. 

Now,  this  is  as  far  as  the  science  of  free  gov 
ernment,  so  called,  has  been  carried  into  practical 
operation ;  and  in  this  we  cannot  fail  to  see  that 
the  restraining  and  controlling  principle  of  slavery 
is  still  in  vigorous  operation.  We  call  it,  by  way 
of  eminence,  a,  free  government;  and  so  it  is,  rela 
tively  to  other  forms,  a  very  free  government.  But 


56  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

then  it  is  only  relatively,  not  absolutely,  so ;  for 
if  it  were  rendered  entirely  free,  by  excluding  the 
operation  of  the  principle  of  slavery  altogether,  it 
would  be  reduced  at  once  to  a  form  of  government 
which  authorizes  every  man  to  do  in  all  things  and 
in  all  respects  just  as  he  might  please  to  do — a 
guaranty  which  in  the  present  state  of  fallen 
human  nature  it  could  never  make  good,  and, 
therefore,  virtually  it  would  be  no  government  at 
all. 

Seeing  that  the  abstract  principle  of  slavery 
enters  necessarily  and  essentially  as  an  element 
into  every  form  of  civil  government,  it  is  worse 
than  idle  to  affirm  that  it  is  wrong,  per  se.  But 
more  than  this,  it  has  the  sanction  of  Jehovah  : 
for  government,  of  which  we  have  seen  it  is  a 
necessary  element,  is  expressly  declared  in  Holy 
Scripture  to  be  his  ordinance.  It  entered  largely 
into  the  theocracy  by  which  he  governed  the 
Jewish  nation ;  and  indeed  is  equally  prominent  in 
the  government  which  he  exercises  over  all  man 
kind,  if  we  take  it  in  its  wide  sense  as  compre 
hending  the  ultimate  rewards  and  punishments 
that  await  us  in  a  future  state.  How  imbecile 
then  is  it  to  say  of  the  system  of  slavery  that  it 
is  wrong  in  the  abstract  —  wrong  in  principle ! 
How  little  do  men  consider  what  they  affirm  in 
this  declaration !  Certainly  no  man  in  his  senses 


OF    SLAVERY.  57 

will  gravely  affirm  of  an  essential  principle  of 
government'  that  it  is  wrong !  We  repeat,  them, 
it  is  really  time  that  certain  politicians,  as  well  as 
ecclesiastics,  had  learned  to  chasten  their  language 
on  this  subject.  They  have  already  accomplished 
incalculable  mischief.  They  have  conceded  that 
to  the  folly  of  fanaticism  which,  if  it  were  true, 
would  render  domestic  slavery,  with  every  other 
form  of  civil  government,  wholly  indefensible,-  and 
their  supporters  the  objects  of  the  pity  and  scorn 
of  the  civilized  world. 

There  are  many  among  ourselves  who,  though 
they  are  not  sufficient  metaphysicians  to  detect 
and  expose  the  error  of  a  conclusion,  are  suffici 
ently  candid  to  admit  that  if  the  conceded  dogma 
of  Jefferson  be  true,  domestic  slavery  can  never 
be  justified  in  practice  by  any  circumstances  what 
ever;  and  they  have  pious  feeling  enough  to 
prompt  them  to  great  hesitation  in  supporting  the 
institution  in  view  of  this  admission,  although  they 
are  pressed  to  do  so  by  circumstances  of  urgent 
duty  to  the  slaves  themselves.  In  this  state  of 
things  there  arises  in  many  sensitive  minds  a  most 
painful  state  of  feeling.  Pressed  on  the  one  hand 
by  what  is  assumed  to  be  correct  principle,  and  on 
the  other  by  the  claims  of  a  high  moral  necessity, 
— the  necessity  of  governing  and  providing  for 
their  slaves,  which  they  erroneously  suppose  to 


58  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

be  in  conflict  with  right  principle, — they  really  find 
themselves  in  a  most  embarrassing  situation,  from 
which  they  sigh  to  be  released.  Many  such  have 
quietly  retired  from  the  State  of  their  nativity 
and  choice  as  their  only  alternative.  (This  may 
account  for  more  of  those  removals,  usually  attri 
buted  to  worn-out  lands,  than  many  of  our  poli 
ticians  wot  of.)  Others  remain,  it  is  true,  but  it 
is  rather  an  act  of  subjection  than  submission. 
Citizens  of  this  class  (and  it  is  not  a  small  class) 
are  of  course  always  liable  to  become  the  victims 
of  any  fanatical  movement  on  the  subject  of  sla 
very  that  may  be  afoot  in  the  land.  To  all  this 
mischief,  the  speakers  and  writers  in  ques 
tion  have  contributed  their  full  share.  Yea, 
for  myself,  I  doubt  not  they  have  contributed 
much  more  to  dissatisfy  the  religious  community 
of  the  South — the  large  majority  of  the  whole 
population — than  all  the  abolitionists  of  the  North 
put  together.  It  is  doubtless  the  magic  of  their 
names  which  at  present  enables  the  M.  E.  Church 
(the  most  regular  and  well-defined  anti-slavery,  if 
not  indeed  abolitionist,  association  this  day  exist 
ing  in  the  country)  to  maintain  its  footing  in  the 
District  of  .Columbia,  the  States  of  Delaware  and 
Maryland,  and  along  the  northern  border  of  East 
ern  and  through  a  large  part  of  Western  Virginia, 
together  with  a  portion  of  Kentucky  and  Mis- 


OF    SLAVERY.  59 

souri.  It  is  the  authority  of  their  names,  also, 
which  so  disquiets  the  feelings  of  many  good 
people  in  the  whole  country  as  to  make  them  the 
victims  of  the  political  legerdemain  of  certain  poli 
ticians,  who,  under  cover  of  "  free-soilism,"  "  fugi 
tive  slave  law,"  and  "  Nebraska"  excitements,  are 
overriding  their  rights  and  insulting  the  whole 
country  before  the  civilized  world ;  and  who,  last 
though  not  least,  are  daily  oppressing  the  African 
population  by  the  incubus  of  a  morbid  sensibility 
in  regard  to  them,  which  utterly  prevents  the 
system  under  which  they  live  from  any  thing  like 
a  reasonable  participation  in  the  progress  of  civili 
zation.  In  view  of  these  facts,  we  again  assume 
that  it  is  really  time  they  had  learned  to  chasten 
their  language  on  the  subject  of  African  slavery. 
Public  opinion  in  the  whole  country  must  soon 
become  intolerant  of  so  great  an  abuse  of  the 
truth. 


60  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 


LECTURE   III. 

OBJECTIONS    CONSIDERED. 

Objections  classified — Popular  views  discussed — "All  men  are 
born  free  and  equal" — "All  men  are  created  equal" — "All 
men  in  a  state  of  nature  are  free  and  equal" — And  the  parti 
cular  form  in  which  Dr.  Wayland  expresses  the  popular  idea, 
viz.,  "  The  relation  in  which  men  stand  to  each  other  is  the 
relation  of  equality  ;  not  equality  of  condition,  but  equality  of 
rt<7^"-~-Remarks  on  Dr.  Way  land's  course — His  treatise  on 

Moral  Science  as  a  text-book. 

\ 

IT  is  now  appropriate  to  consider  some  of  the 
speculations  in  Moral  Science  which  may  be  sup 
posed  to  invalidate  the  position  discussed  in  the 
preceding  lecture.  As  far  as  they  have  come 
under  my  notice,  they  all  belong  to  one  class. 
The  general  objection  may  be  thus  stated  :  Slavery 
is  an  abridgment  of  rights  to  which  the  enslaved  are 
entitled  by  nature  ;  or,  more  logically,  slavery  is  an 
abridgment  of  inalienable  rights.  This  doctrine  is 
expressed  in  different  forms  of  language,  but  is 
essentially  the  same  in  meaning.  It  is  with  the 


OF    SLAVERY.  61 

popular  view  of  this  subject  that  I  propose  to  deal 
in. this  lecture.  Hence  I  shall  restrict  my  remarks, 
in  the  first  place,  to  the  objection  as  it  usually 
exists  in  thought,  and  notice  several  popular  forms 
of  expression  : 

1.  "Airmen  are  born  free  and  equal." 
Until  within  a  few  years  past,  this  dogma  was 
stereotyped  in  all  the  text-books  of  the  country — 
from  the  horn-book  to  the  most  eminent  treatise 
on  Moral  Science  for  colleges  and  universities. 
From  the  days  of  Jefferson  until  now,  it  has  been 
the  text  for  the  noisy  twaddle  of  the  "stump- 
politician,"  and  the  profound  discussions  of  the 
grave  senator  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States.  If  this  dogma,  as  it  generally  exists  in 
thought,  be  true,  it  will  follow,  that  any  and  every 
abridgment  of  liberty  is  a  violation  of  original  and 
natural  right— that  is,  inalienable  right.  Hence 
every  system  of  slavery  must  be  based  upon  a 
false  principle.  The  popular*  sense  in  whiten  this 
language  is  generally  understood,  from  father  to 
son,  is  evidently  the  literal  sense.  But  taken  in 
this  sense,  the  doctrine  is  utterly  false.  For  men 
are  born  in  a  state  of  infancy,  and  grow  up  to  the 
state  of  manhood.;  and  infants  are  entirely  inca 
pable  of  freedom,  and  do  not  enjoy  a  particle  of  it. 
They  are  not,  therefore,  born  equally  free,  but  in 
a  state  of  entire  subjection.  They  grow  up,  it  is 


62  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

true — if  they  be  not  imbeciles — to  a  degree  of 
mental  liberty,  that  is,  the  liberty  of  arbitrary 
volition  in  the  plain  matters  of  right  and  ivrong, 
and  hence  are  accountable ;  but  the  degree  of  this 
liberty,  or  how  far  they  are  thus  mentally  free, 
depends  upon  the  accident  of  birth,  education,  and 
numerous  coincident  circumstances,  which  destroys 
all  equality  of  mental  freedom ;  arid  as  to  equality 
in  other  respects,  it  is  scarcely  a  decent  regard  to 
the  feelings  of  mankind  to  affirm  their  equality. 
They  are  not  physically  equal.  No  two  men  will 
compare  exactly  in  this  respect.  They  are  not 
politically  equal.  The  history  of  all  human  gov 
ernments,  throughout  all  time,  shows  this.  To 
be  "hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,"  in 
unequal  and  subordinate  positions,  to  the  few,  has 
been  the  lot  of  the  great  mass  of  mankind  from 
the  days  of  Adam.  But,  says  the  "socialist," 
(to  whom  the  doctrine  is  far  more  creditable,) 
"this  latter  is  precisely  the  state  of  things  we 
deprecate,  and  affirm  that  such  was  never  the 
intention  of  Deity,  but  that  it  is  his  will  that  there 
should  be  no  such  inequality  among  men ;  that  his 
will  is  in  itself  the  right;  and  what  it  is  his  will 
we  should  be,  it  is  right  for  us  to  be,  and  it  is 
our  right  to  be;  and  that  system  which  makes  otir 
condition  other  than  this,  deprives  us  of  our  rights." 
This  is  the  philosophy  of  socialism. 


OF    SLAVERY.  63 

Now  it  is  true  that  much  of  the  inequality  of 
condition  among  men  is  owing  to  an  abuse  of  the 
superior  power  which  intelligence  confers  upon  the 
few  ;  but  this  admission  does  not  advance  the 
cause  of  socialism.  For  if  it  were  allowed  that 
the  will  of  God  is  the  only  rule  of  right — that  is, 
in  itself  the  right,  instead  of  this,  that  that  which 
in  itself  is  the  right  is  the  will  of  God — it  will  not 
help  the  argument.  For,  on  this  hypothesis,  the 
will  of  God  is  the  only  rule  of  right,  as  on  the 
other  it  conforms  to  the  only  rule  of  right ;  so 
that  on  either,  the  will  of  God  may  be  taken  as  a 
certain  rule  of  right.  What  then  does  he  will? 
In  regard  to  the  present  subject  of  inquiry,  we  can 
only  judge  what  he  wills  from  that  which  he  has 
clone.  Now  we  have  seen  that  he  has  not  en 
dowed  the  souls  of  men  with  equal  capacity,  nor 
has  he  even  placed  them  in  circumstances  of  pro 
vidential  equality,  favorable  to  an  equal  develop 
ment  of  the  unequal  capacities  he  has  given  them. 
Superior  intelligence  is  the  condition  of  inequality. 
Where  this  exists,  there  is  essential  inequality, 
and  practical  inequality  cannot  usually  be  avoided. 
Hence  superior  and  inferior,  and  cognate  terms, 
are  found  in  all  languages,  and  the  conditions  they 
represent  are  found  amongst  all  people.  Hence 
inequality  among  men  is  the  will  of  God ;  and  if 
his  will  is  the  rule  of  our  rights,  we  have  no  ab- , 


64  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

stract  right  to  equality.  It  is  rather  our  duty  to 
submit  to  that  inequality  of  condition  which  results 
from  the  superior  intelligence  or  moral  power  of 
others.  Superior  physical  power  may,  for  a  time, 
give  us  the  ascendency ;  but  things  will  find  their 
level.  Superior  intelligence  will  ultimately  bear 
its*  possessor  to  his  destined  eminence.  A  state 
of  oppression  is  not  one  of  inequality  merely.  It 
is  one  in  which  superior  intelligence  has  degraded 
and  afflicted  those  who  rank  below  it,  in  an  inferior 
condition ;  or  it  is  an  instance  in  which,  by  the 
aid  of  brute  force,  those  of  inferior  condition  have, 
for  a  time,  risen  at  the  expense  of  those  of  superior 
intelligence.  If  we  are  oppressed,  in  either  of 
these  ways,  we  have  a  right  to  complain,  because 
our  oppressors  violate  the  will  of  God  concerning 
us — violate  our  rights ;  but  we  have  no  right  to 
complain  of  inequality  merely.  Inequality  is  the 
law  of  Heaven.  He  who  complains  of  this  is  not 
less  unwise  than  the  prisoner  who  frets  at  his  con 
dition,  and  chafes  himself  against  the  bars  and 
bolts  of  the  prison  which  securely  confines  him ! 

But  if  the  dogma  in  question  cannot  be  made  to 
serve  the  cause  of  truth,  it  has  often  been  made 
to  serve  the  cause  of  policy.  Many  there  are 
who  have  not  scrupled  to  use  it  as  a  tocsin  to  call 
together  a  clan,  not  their  inferiors  merely,  but  so 
-  degraded  in  their  inferiority,  that,  for  the  price  of 


OF    SLAVERY.  65 

being  honored  with  the  distinction  of  "free  and  equal 
fellow-citizens"  they  have  been  ready  as^  menials 
to  bow  their  necks  to  their  masters,  debase  them 
selves,  dishonor  the  state,  and  insult  Jehovah  I 

2.  "All  men  are  created  equal." 

This  is  only  another  form  in  which  the  social 
philosophy  is  pleased  to  express  its  one  idea.  We 
need  only  notice  the  additional  error  acquired  by 
the  change  of  language.  "All  men,"  it  is  said, 
"  are  created."  It  is  written  in  the  first  of  Gene 
sis,  that  "  God  created  man  in  his  own  image  :  in 
the  image  of  God  created  he  him  :  male  and  female 
created  he.  them."  The  term  "  man"  is,  of  course, 
to  be  understood  in  its  generic  sense,  and  all  that 
is  affirmed  is,  that  God  directly  created  Adam  and 
Eve,  and  all  their  posterity  seminally  in  them; 
and  from  whom,  therefore,  they  have  proceeded, 
as  to  both  soul  and  body,  by  generation,  and  not 
by  a  separate  act  of  creation  by  Jehovah.  Now 
of  these  two  created  beings,  one  was  placed  in 
direct  and  immediate  subordination  to  the  other ; 
and  although  it  be  true,  as  it  often  practically  is, 
that  the  fall  has  reversed  this  order  of  things,  and 
placed  the  wife  at  the  head  of  affairs,  still  the 
doctrine  of  headship,  the  doctrine  of  inequality, 
prevails  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other.  It  is  riot 
amiss,  however,  to  remark  in  passing,  that  even 
so  great  and  humble  a  man  as  the  Apostle  Paul 


66  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

preferred  the  old-fashioned  doctrine :  he  insists 
that  we  observe  the  original  order  of  things  :  "  I 
suffer  not  a  woman  to  usurp  authority  over  the 
man ;"  1  Tim.  ii.  12 ;  "  but  they  are  commanded 
to  be  under  obedience,  as  also  saith  the  law."  1 
Cor.  xiv.  34. 

As  to  other  points  in  this  dogma,  they  have 
been  already  treated.  We  only  add  that  philoso 
phy,  no  less  than  religion  and  true  patriotism,  can 
not  fail  to  regret  that  a  dogma  setting  each  of  their 
claims  aside,  and  teaching  the  purest  agrarianism, 
and  that  under  the  most  deadly  form — the  form 
of  pure  abstract  truth — should  have  found  its  way 
into  that  immortal  instrument,  the  Declaration  of 
American  Independence.  We  cannot  otherwise 
account  for  it  than  by  the  fact  that  one  of  the 
presiding  minds  of  that  great  paper  had  become 
strongly  tinctured  with  the  infidel  philosophy  of 
France. 

3,  "All  men  in  a  state  of  nature  are  free  and 
equal." 

This  is  the  form  of  words  by  which  that  great 
man,  Locke,  involved  himself  in  the  doctrine  of 
socialism.  The  school  of  philosophy  has  freed 
itself  of  the  errors  of  Locke,  and  of  much  of  the 
infidelity  of  Hume  which  those  errors  precipitated 
upon  the  world.  The  error  now  under  notice,  in 
the  unsettled  political  state  of  France,  was  seized 


OF    SLAVERY.  67 

upon  by  the  Communists  :  infidelity  and  anarchy 
followed.  From  them,  it  was  consecrated  in  an 
abridged  form  of  words  in  the  greatest  state  paper 
that  was  ever  written, — the  "  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence," — and  incorporated  into  the  popular 
language  of  the  American  people,  and,  indeed,  into 
that  of  every  people  where  the  English  language 
is  spoken.  Great  and  good  men,  who  abhor  the 
folly  of  socialism,  do  not  scruple  to  assert  that 
the  true  theory  of  all  governments  is,  that  they 
are  an  abridgment  of  original  and  natural  rights ; 
forgetful  of  the  fact  that  it  is  from  the  fountain  of 
socialism  that  they  draw  their  original  supply  of 
ideas.  Those  of  the  republican  type  maintain 
that  the'  government  should  be  founded  upon  the 
concessions  of  the  majority,  and  that  any  thing  else 
is  tyranny.  I  propose  to  deal  with  this  idea  in  a 
future  lecture.  I  now  only  consider  the  dogma 
in  the  literal  sense — the  form  in  which  it  exists 
in  popular  thought. 

Literally,  what  is  the  state  of  man  by  nature  ? 
and,  Is  he  free  and  equal  in  that  state  ?  We  can 
conceive  of  man  as  existing  only  in  one  or  the 
other  of  two  states ;  one  of  which  is  his  natural 
state,  and  the  other  merely  hypothetical :  that  is, 
the  simple,  or  individual  state,  and  the  complex,  or 
social  state.  To  conceive  of  men  in  their  simple 
state,  or  as  not  in  a  state  of  society,  is  to  conceive 


68  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

of  them  as  existing  as  mere  individuals  :  that  is, 
without  connection  or  relation  one  with  the  other.  Is 
this  the  natural  state  of  man — the  state  intended 
for  him  by  nature?  Certainly  not.  It  is  not 
known  to  history,  any  more  than  to  us,  that  any 
set  of  men  ever  existed  in  this  way.  This,  then, 
is  a  merely  hypothetical  state.  In  reality,  there 
never  was  such  a  state  of  things,  and  never  will 
be.  Indeed,  on  the  hypothesis  that  such  was 
the  original  state  of  men  by  nature,  or  as  intended 
by  the  Lord,  it  would  follow  as  a  mere  truism 
that  each  one  of  those  separate  individuals  was 
free  from  control  by  any  one  or  all  of  the  others  : 
that  is,  they  were  all  free  and  equal.  That  this 
truism  expresses  the  truth  of  the  case,  no  doubt 
exists  in  the  thought  of  a  great  many ;  but  they 
overlook  the  hypothesis  which  makes  it  a  hypo 
thetical  truism,  merely  because  it  never  had  any 
existence  in  fact,  and  never  can  have. 

To  conceive  of  men  in  the  social  state  is  to  con 
ceive  of  them  in  their  relations  to  each  other. 
Hence  it  is  a  complex  state.  Several  ideas  enter 
into  this  state — not  only  individuality,  as  in  the 
former  case,  but  also  contiguity  of  time  and  place, 
variety,  and  often  contrariety  of  relations,  together 
with  all  the  ideas  which,  as  sequences,  grow  out 
of  these.  Now,  a  leading  idea  involved  in  this 
state,  and  inseparable  from  it,  is  the  idea  of  gov- 


OF    SLAVERY.  69 

eminent :  that  is,  the  political  is  inseparable  from 
the  social  state.  These  various  and  conflicting 
relations  must  be  defined  by  certain  rules,  carry 
ing  the  full  idea  of  control.  Without  this,  these 
relations  could  not  operate  in  harmonious  agree 
ment  for  a  single  day.  Now,  as  the  natural  state 
of  man  is  the  state  for  which  he  was  made, — the 
state  to  which  alone  his  entire  nature  is  adapted, 
— there  can  be  no  dispute,  the  social  state  is  the 
natural  state  of  man.  "And  the  Lord  God  said, 
It  is  not  good  that  the  man  should  be  alone  :  I  will 
make  him  an  helpmeet  for  him."  He  was  made, 
then,  for  society,  and  society  was  immediately 
furnished  him.  But  the  law  of  relation,  we  find, 
was  coincident  with  the  relation  itself :  "  There 
fore  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  his  mother, 
and  shall  cleave  unto  his  wife."  Gen.  ii.  24.  And 
so  also,  every  one  born  into  the  world  was  born 
in  a  state  of  society — the  social  state — and  has 
always  existed  in  this  state  :  that  is,  under  govern 
ment.  But  we  have  before  proved  that  a  state  of 
slavery  is  fundamental  in  the  complex  idea  of  gov 
ernment.  There  is,  there  can  be,  no  government 
without  it.  Therefore,  the  natural  state  of  man,  or 
the  state  to  which  he  is  adapted  by  both  his  mental 
and  physical  constitution,  is  a  state  of  slavery  in 
combination  with  liberty,  which  is  the  complex  idea 
of  government. 


70  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

4.  "  The  relation  which  men  sustain  to  each 
other  is  the  relation  of  equality :  not  equality  of 
condition,  but  equality  of  right!' 

This  is  the  form  in  which  Dr.  Wayland  prefers 
to  express  the  doctrine  of  equality.*  He  explains 
himself  thus  :  "  Each  separate  individual  is  created 
with  precisely  the  same  right  to  use  the  advan 
tages  with  which  God  has  endowed  him  as  any 
other  individual."  From  this  position,  as  thus 
explained,  he  deduces  an  argument  the  force  of 
which,  without  expressing  it  in  so  many  words,  is 
constructively  made  to  pervade  the  whole  perform 
ance.  For  his  whole  argument  may  be  embodied 
thus  :  the  government  which  places  an  individual 
in  any  other  condition  than  that  of  political  equal 
ity  is  an  odious  tyranny  :  the  government  which 
establishes  domestic  slavery  does  this,  and  is 
therefore  an  odious  tyranny. 

Now,,  the  proposition,  as  he  explains  it,  may  be 
admitted  as  a  truism ;  but  then  the  doctrine  of 
essential  equality  of  right  will  not  follow  from 
such  an  admission :  that  is,  social  and  political 
equality.  For  what  if  it  be  true  that  "  each 
separate  individual  has  precisely  the  same  right 
to  use  the  advantages  with  which  God  has  en 
dowed  him  ?"  It  only  follows  that  each  one  has  a 

*  Moral  Science.     Part  II.,  Division  I — Reciprocity. 


OF    SLAVERY.  71 

common  right  in  this  respect  merely,  but  not  that 
there  is  an  essential  equality  of  right  in  any 
available  sense  in  which  we  are  accustomed  to 
understand  the  phrase.  For  if  so,  it  will  follow 
that  brutes  have  an  essential  equality  of  rights 
with  men,  and  that  both  men  and  brutes  have  an 
essential  equality  of  rights  with  angels.  This  is 
not  pushing  the  argument  too  far  in  either  direc 
tion.  For  brutes,  in  a  sense  well  defined  by  Dr. 
Way  land  himself,  have  rights.  No  one  but  a 
moral  brute  would  deny  the  right  of  his  fellow- 
creature — the  brute — to  appropriate  an  accessible 
bucket  of  refreshing  water  to  slake  his  burning 
thirst.  Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  brutes, 
men,  and  angels  have  a  common  right  to  appropri 
ate  the  advantages  with  which  God  has  endowed 
them.  Brutes  could  not  have  lower,  and  angels 
could  not  have  higher,  rights  in  this  respect.  But 
surely  it  cannot  be  said  that  this  common  right 
confers  on  brutes,,  men,  and  angels,  essential 
equality  of  rights  in  any  practical  sense  what 
ever  ;  for  then  it  will  follow  that  brutes,  men, 
and  angels  have  an  equal  right  to  social  and  poli 
tical  equality — a  bold  and  reckless  absurdity. 

We  admit  that  one  man  has  a  common  right 
with  each  and  all  other  men  in  the  respect  stated ; 
but  not  that  they  have  common  rights  in  other 
respects.  The  common  right  to  use  our  "advan- 


72  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

tages  to  promote  our  happiness"  will  not  constitute 
us  equals  in  any  proper  sense,  unless  our  advan 
tages  be  equal.  Now,  Dr.  Way  land  himself  allows, 
in  the  very  terms  of  his  proposition,  that  men  are 
not  equal  in  condition — that  is,  not  equal  in  advan 
tages.  And  nothing  is  more  obvious  than  that 
men  are  not  equal  in  that  intellectual  and  moral 
condition  which  would  enable  them  to  use  certain 
social  and  political  advantages  for  the  benefit  of 
themselves  and  others  :  consequently,  upon  his 
own  admission,  they  would  have  no  right  to  them. 
Unless,  then,  it  can  be  shown  that  God  has  en 
dowed  all  human  beings  with  intellectual  and 
moral  capacities  sufficiently  developed  to  enable 
them  to  be  used  for  the  common  welfare,  they 
have  no  right  to  what  we  call  political  freedom. 
But  it  is  unquestionable  that  men  are  not  univers 
ally  nor  even  generally  so  endowed.  It  is  not 
the  case  with 'minors.  Political  freedom  is  with 
held  from  them  by  the  laws  of  all  States,  for  the 
obvious  reason  that  it  is  not  among  the  privileges 
which  God,  as  yet,  endowed  them  with  the  ability 
to  use  for  the  common  welfare.  Still,  no  one,  so 
far  as  we  are  aware,  ever  dreamed  that  minors 
were  herein  abridged  of  their  natural  rights,  and 
that  government  and  parents  were  "  odious  tyrants" 
because  they  subjected  them  to  one  of  the  known 
forms  of  domestic  slavery  !  We  are  not  surprised, 


OF    SLAVERY.  73 

therefore,  that  Dr.  Way  land  found  himself  com 
pelled  to  admit  that  minors  were  exceptions  to  his 
rule ;  which,  however,  he  had  argued  as  univer 
sal — universals  admit  of  no  exceptions. 

Again,  it  is  not  true  of  barbarians,  through  any 
of  the  stages  of  barbarism.  At  no  period  are  they 
in  that  state  of  intellectual  and  moral  development 
in  which  they  could  use  for  the  common  welfare 
the  blessings  of  civil  freedom,  as  understood  and 
enjoyed  by  a  highly  civilized  people.  If  they 
were,  they  would  not  be  barbarians,  but  a  civilized 
people,  to  whom  the  right  of  civilization — political 
freedom — would  inure. 

Now  I  assume  here,  what  I  shall  prove  in  a 
future  lecture,  that  the  African  came  into  this 
country  in  a  state  of  extreme  barbarism ;  and  that, 
in  the  judgment  of  Southern  people — whom  preju 
dice  itself  can  hardly  deny  are  honest  and  the  only 
competent  judges  in  this  matter — they  are  still, 
as  a  race,  in  a  state  of  semi-barbarism,  to  say  the 
least.  If  we  are  right  in  this  position,  they  also 
are  an  example  of  persons  who  are  clearly  not 
entitled  to  the  rights  which  inure  only  to  a  state 
of  civilization.  With  what  propriety,  therefore, 
could  any  decent  man,  whose  object  is  not  to  in 
sult,  affirm  that  we  are  "  odious  tyrants,"  for 
withholding  from  the  African  the  rights  which  are 
appropriate  only  to  a  state  of  civilization :  unless 
4 


74  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

he  were  prepared  first  to  show  that  we  are 
wrong  in  our  position  as  to  the  question  of  fact, 
that  they  are  still  in  a  state  of  semi-barbarism,  and, 
therefore,  not  entitled  to  civil  freedom  ? 

How  shall  wre  characterize  the  course  of  Dr. 
Way  land  !  After  drawing  an  ingenious  argument 
through  many  pages  of  his  performance :  appeal 
ing  to  the  facts  and  principles  of  Holy  Scripture : 
not  failing,  in  the  progress  and  application  of  his 
false  position,  to  stigmatize  the  system  of  African 
slavery  as  an  odious  tyranny,  and  this  for  the 
obvious  purpose  of  degrading  the  Southern  States 
of  this  Union  in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  civilized 
world :  then,  when  he  is  confronted,  as  he  neces 
sarily  was,  in  the  progress  of  his  own  argument, 
by  the  only  material  fact  in  the  whole  discussion, 
he  adroitly  evades  all  consideration  of  it  whatever  ! 
On  page  216,  fourth  edition,  he  states  the  position 
of  the  South,  that  the  "  slaves  are  not  competent  to 
self-government,"  and  shortly  replies,  "  This  is  a 
question  of  fact  which  it  is  not  the  province  of 
Moral  Philosophy  to  decide."  Why  then  did  he 
decide  it  by  an  application  of  his  false  position  to 
the  South  ?  Echo  answers,  Why  ? 

Had  he  confined  the  application  of  his  principles 
to  the  rights  which  belong  to  a  civilized  people, 
we  should  have  no  cause  to  complain ;  or  had  he 
adduced  facts  to  invalidate  the  position  of  the 


OFSLAVEKY.  75 

South  in  regard  to  its  African  population,  we 
should  be  bound  to  regard  him  as  maintaining  an 
honorable  discussion ;  or,  yielding  this  point,  had 
he  attempted  to  define  that  form  of  government 
most  appropriate  to  a  mass  of  semi-barbarians, 
dwelling  in  the  midst  of  a  highly  civilized  people, 
with  whom  they  could  not  amalgamate;  or,  de 
clining  this,  had  he  frankly  confessed  his  incom- 
petency  (as  indeed  will  really  appear  upon  a  dis 
cussion  of  his  basis  principle)  to  do  justice  to  the 
subject  of  Moral  Philosophy  at  this  point  at  least 
— in  either  case  we  should  be  bound  to  respect  his 
effort.  But  departing,  as  he  evidently  does,  from 
all  these  obvious  lines  of  duty  in  the  pathway  of 
his  desolating  errors,  and  inflicting  so  deep  a 
wound  upon  the  feelings  of  the  whole  Southern 
community,  it  must  be  allowed  that  our  charity  is 
heavily  taxed  in  accounting  for  his  course.  He 
can  have  no  cause  to  complain  that  we  adopt  the 
opinion  that  he  has  permitted  an  early  prejudice 
to  grow  into  a  feeling  of  fanaticism,  so  fixed  as  to 
warp  his  judgment  on  points  of  very  simple  appli 
cation  in  Moral  Science. 

Dr.  Wayland's  treatise  is  a  text-book  in  many 
of  our  literary  institutions,  and  he  himself  is  emi 
nently  distinguished  both  in  the  religious  and  lite 
rary  world.  Such  a  text-book,  thus  endorsed  by 
both  piety  and  learning,  put  into  the  hands  of  our 


76  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

young  men,  could  rarely  fail  of  its  object — espe 
cially  if  the  professor  concur  in  enforcing  its  doc 
trines.  This  is  frequently  the  case  in  Northern 
institutions,  and  has  often  occurred  in  Southern; 
and  where  it  has  not,  the  professor,  as  a  general 
thing,  is  either  silent,  or  he  concedes  the  doctrines 
of  the  text,  and  rests  the  defence  of  the  South 
upon  the  false  position,  that  "  she  cannot  help  her 
self !"  The  assumption  that  God  has  placed  men 
in  circumstances  in  which  they  cannot  avoid  a 
violation  of  his  own  immutable  principles  of  right, 
may  be  so  entirely  overlooked,  as  to  leave  the 
doctrines  and  arguments  of  the  text  to  work  an 
increasing  conviction  that  there  is  moral  wrong  in 
African  slavery.  If  this  state  of  things  continue, 
we  must  not  be  surprised  if  abolition  fanaticism 
should  have  a  still  more  rapid  growth  in  our  land. 


OP    SLAVERY.  77 


LECTURE   IV. 

THE    QUESTION    OF    EIGHTS    DISCUSSED. 

Why  it  is  necessary  to  define  the  term  RIGHTS — The  right  in 
itself  defined  to  be  the  good — The  doctrine  that  the  will  of  God 
is  the  origin  of  the  right  considered — The  will  of  God  not  the 
origin  of  the  right,  but  an  expression  of  the  right  which  is  the 
good — Natural  rights  and  acquired  rights,  each  defined. 

THERE  are  questions  which  lie  back  of  this  dis 
cussion — errors,  as  I  think,  which  underlie  the 
popular  ideas  of  both  government  and  rights.  We 
should  not  consider  that  we  had  fully  met  the 
difficulties  of  the  subject  if  we  passed  them  by. 

Domestic  slavery,  it  is  said,  is  an  abridgment 
of  inalienable  rights ;  and  legitimate  government 
is  a  voluntary  concession  of  certain  alienable 
rights. 

Natural  rights  are,  of  course,  such  as  are  inher 
ent  in  the  constitution  of  man  :  inalienable,  because 
in  point  of  fact  he  cannot  be  substantively  deprived 
of  them.  The  law  which  in  any  case  provides  to 


78  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

do  this,  treats  him  as  though  he  were  not  a  rational, 
but  a  mere  sentient  being — and  therein  alienates 
his  rights.  Domestic  slavery  is  said  to  treat  the 
slave  as  a  mere  chattel,  a  thing,  not  an  entity,  and 
hence  deprives  him  by  provision  of  law  of  the 
right  of  being  treated  as  a  rational  being  as  he  is, 
and  not  a  mere  thing.  This  is  said,  because  it 
places  his  time  and  labor  at  the  disposal  of  another 
man.  How  far  this  reproach  is  just,  turns  upon  a 
definite  answer  to  the  question —  What  are  rights  ? 
"  Government  is  a  voluntary  concession  of  certain 
alienable  rights"  If  this  concession  be  made  by 
the  majority  of  the  citizens,  the  government  is 
called  republican;  if  otherwise,  it  is  called  despotic. 
In  this  theory  of  government,  certain  rights  are 
assumed  to  be  given  up,  in  order  to  secure  other 
and  more  important  rights.  I  have  shown  govern 
ment  to  embody,  of  necessity,  two  great  abstract 
principles  in  harmonious  operation  —  though,  in 
their  essential  nature,  the  one  antagonizes  the 
other.  Now  the  principle  of  slavery — control  by 
the  will  of  another — certainly  operates  an  abridg 
ment  of  the  exercise  of  self-control,  which  is  the 
principle  of  liberty.  And  so  far  as  the  principle 
of  slavery  operates,  in  any  given  instance  of  gov 
ernment,  is  that,  in  such  instance,  a  giving  up,  to 
that  extent,  of  the  right  of  self-control,  in  order  to 
secure  a  right  to  the  self-control  which  remains 


OF    SLA  VERY.  79 

ungiven  up  ?  Is  this  so  ?  This  question  also 
turn  upon  the  solution  of  that  other  question — 
What  are  rights  ? 

And  again,  self-control,  we  say,  is  the  principle 
of  liberty.  Practical  freedom  is  the  exercise  of 
the  right  of  self-control.  How  far  does  the  right 
of  self-control  extend  ?  I  say  that  .an  instance  in 
which  a  body  of  men  emerged  from  a  state  of 
nature,  (so  called,)  and  formed  a  government  by 
an  original  act,  is  unknown  to  history.  It  never 
occurred.  Man  wras  placed  originally  by  Jehovah 
himself  under  political  law.  The  very  moment 
that  he  placed  the  first  being  in  a  relation  to 
another  by  giving  him  a  " helpmeet"  he  gave  him 
a  law  to  govern  that  relation,  as  we  have  seen ; 
and  all  the  subsequent. acts  of  men  in  the  matter 
of  government-making,  have  been  such  modifica 
tions  of  the  existing  form  of  government  as  they 
supposed  would  better  suit  their  circumstances. 
But  it  is  said  that  when  society  meets  in  conven 
tion  to  agree  upon  certain  principles  called  a  con 
stitution,  under  which  the  laws  shall  be  made, 
men  do  virtually,  for  the  time  being,  resolve  them 
selves  into  their  original  position  or  state  without 
government;  and  that  the  constitution  so  formed 
is  virtually  an  original  formation.  Well,  for  the 
sake  of  the  argument,  let  it  be  so.  When,  there 
fore,  society  thus  falls  back  upon  its  original 


80  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

position,  men  stand  upon  the  basis  of  what  are 
supposed  their  original  rights !  What  is  that  ? 
Why,  the  right  that  each  man  has  to  do  as  he 
may  please.  They  form  a  government :  that  is, 
give  up  a  part,  more  or  less,  of  their  original  right. 
Of  course  a  part  remains  ungiven  up,  and  the  giv 
ing  up  cannot  be  to  secure  the  possession  of  that 
which  is  already  in  possession !  What  is  it  that 
invests  these  questions  with  difficulty  ?  Is  it  not 
the  ambiguity  of  the  term  rights  ?  Let  us  then 
define  rights,  if  we  would  not  be  for  ever  entoiled 
by  these  absurdities. 

And  still  again :  Is  liberty  the  right  of  self- 
control?  Is  not  man — accountable  man — free  in 
virtue  of  his  very  humanity  ?  Does  this  freedom 
imply  absolute  liberty  ?  If  so,  absolute  liberty  is 
inherent  in  his  very  constitution — it  is  inalienable. 
What  right,  then,  can  he  have  to  give  it  up,  or 
any  part  of  it  ?  If  so,  he  has  the  right  to  do  that 
which  subjectively  he  cannot  do.  If,  then,  govern 
ment  be  a  concession  of  the  right  of  self-control 
in  this  sense,  it  is  the  concession  of  an  inalienable 
right,  and  should  be  abandoned  as  a  piece  of  folly. 

It  is  entirely  obvious,  therefore,  that  we  can 
not  advance  in  these  inquiries  at  all  without 
first  settling  the  question,  What  are  rights  ? 

The  English  language  is  allowed  to  be  one  of 
great  power,  compass,  and  accuracy,  and  therefore 


OF    SLAVERY.  81 

eminently  adapted  to  reasoning.  It  derives  this 
quality  in  a  good  degree  from  its  flexibility,  the 
different  varieties  of  idea,  and  often  the  different 
shades  of  meaning  in  these  varieties  that  may  be 
expressed  by  one  word.  No  language  is  supposed 
to  compare  with  it  in  this  respect.  But  whilst 
this  adapts  it  to  the  purpose  of  correct  reasoning, 
it  opens  also  a  wide  field  for  errors  in  argument. 
Men  usually  differ  widely  in  opinion,  but  they  do 
not  often  differ  in  sentiment.  All  intelligent  and 
good  men  feel  right,  and  mean  right.  They  often 
differ  in  opinion  because  they  differ  in  the  mean 
ing  they  attach  to  the  language,  the  same 
language,  which  is  the  medium  through  which 
each  views  the  same  subject.  Different  men  use 
the  same  word  in  different  senses.  The  same 
man  often  uses  the  same  word  by  habit  in  differ 
ent  senses  in  the  same  connection.  They  come 
to  different  conclusions,  of  course,  and  the  same 
man  often  entoils  himself  by  his  own  argument. 
Now,  there  are  few  words  with  which  men  have 
more  to  do  in  discussions  and  opinions  about 
liberty  and  government — the  next  most  important 
matters  to  personal  religion — than  with  the  word 
rights;  and  there  are  few  words  which  are  capable 
of  more  varied  application,  and  which  are  in  truth 
oftener  applied  to  express  different  shades  of 

meaning,  than  this  word  rights.     Webster  gives 
4* 


82  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

correctly  some  forty  different  meanings  of  this 
term,  together  with  several  subordinate  senses  in 
which  it  occurs,  all  of  which  are  in  common  use. 
Our  language — and  of  what  language  is  not  the 
same  true  ? — our  literature,  our  theology,  our  poli 
tics — society  on  all  sides — is  bristling  with  rights! 
Now,  is  it  not  obvious  that  there  must  be  some 
generic  idea  which  classifies  all  the  different  mean 
ings  and  applications  of  this  term,  and  which  has 
its  foundation  in  the  common  sense,  the  common 
reason  of  all  mankind  ? 

If,  then,  we  inquire  what  are  our  rights  in  any 
given  case,  this  question  directly  involves  that 
other  and  ultimate  question,  What  is  the  right  in 
itself?  the  solution  of  which  solves  at  once  the 
general  question  in  regard  to  all  cases.  And  al 
though  the  case  in  which  our  rights  may  appear 
must  be  first  in  point  of  time  before  our  minds,  to 
call  up  our  idea  of  the  right,  still  our  definite  ante 
cedent  idea  of  the  right  is  the  logical  condition  on 
which  we  determine  whether  the  right  appears  in 
that  case. 

Call  then,  to  your  mind,  an  instance  of  justice, 
and  one  of  injustice  :  a  case  of  virtue  and  a  case 
of  crime  :  an  example  of  heroism  and  an  example 
of  weakness  :  does  not  each  of  these  cases  em 
body,  the  one  class  your  idea  of  the  right  in  itself, 
and  the  other  your  idea  of  the  wrong  in  itself? 


OF    SLAVERY.  83 

But  your  conception  of  the  cases  in  which  your 
antecedent  idea  of  the  right  and  the  wrong  ap 
pears,  and  your  antecedent  idea  of  that  right  and 
of  that  wrong,  are  very  different  ideas :  that  is,  the 
case  itself  and  your  idea  of  the  principle  are  dis 
tinct  :  the  one  a  thing,  the  other  an  idea  of  some 
thing  real.  What,  then,  is  your  idea  of  the  right. 
which  is  so  distinct  in  your  mind  from  the  case  in 
which  it  appears  ?  Interrogate  your  reason  and 
consciousness.  Interrogate  the  reason  and  con 
sciousness  of  all  mankind; 

Take  this  example :  "  The  father  of  Caius  To- 
ranius  had  been  proscribed  by  the  triumvirate. 
Caius  Toranius,  coming  over  to  the  interest  of  that 
party,  discovered  to  the  officers  who  were  in  pur 
suit  of  his  father  the  place  where  he  concealed 
himself,  and  gave  withal  a  description  by  which 
they  might  distinguish  his  person  when  they 
found  him.  The  old  man,  more  anxious  for  the 
safety  and  fortunes  of  his  son  than  about  the  little 
that  might  remain  of  his  own  life,  began  immedi 
ately  to  inquire  of  the  officers  who  seized  him, 
whether  his  son  were  well,  whether  he  had  done 
his  duty  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  generals.  '  That 
son,'  replied  one  of  the  officers,  '  so  dear  to  thy 
affections,  betrayed  thee  to  us  :  by  his  informa 
tion  thou  art  apprehended,  and  diest.'  The  officer, 
with  this,  struck  a  poniard  to  his  heart,  and  the 


84  PHILOSOPHY    AND     PRACTICE 

unhappy  parent  fell,  not  so  much  affected  by  his 
fate  as  by  the  means  to  which  he  owed  it."* 
Here  is  an  example  of  the  greatest  filial  impiety, 
and  of  the  highest  parental  affection.  The  one 
fulfils  our  idea  of  the  right,  the  other  our  idea  of 
the  wrong.  Now,  what  is  this  idea  of  the"  right 
and  the  wrong  in  which  all  are  supposed  to  agree  ? 
We  would  not  ask,  with  the  disciple  of  Paley,  of 
Con (1  iliac,  or  of  Helvetius,  what  the  "  wild  boy, 
caught  years  ago  in  the  woods  of  Hanover,"  would 
have  thought  of  this  case ;  nor  what  the  savage, 
without  experience  and  without  instruction,  cut 
off  in  his  infancy  from  all  intercourse  with  his 
species,  would  think  of  it.  No  :  "  the  savage  state 
offers  us  humanity  in  swaddling-clothes,  so  to 
speak — the  germ  of  humanity,  but  not  humanity 
entire.  The  true  man  is  the  perfect  man  of  his 
kind  :  true  human  nature  is  human  nature  arrived 
at  its  development.""}*  We  utterly  deny  that,  in 
order  to  arrive  at  the  judgment  of  human  nature, 
we  need  consult  a  savage  in  such  circumstances, 
or  indeed  to  consult  a  savage  at  all.  And  yet  we 
say  that  even  a  savage  of  good  mind,  who  has 
lived  long  enough  in  society  to  get  the  idea  of  the 
relation  of  parent  and  child — such  as  even  savages 
have — would  pronounce  the  conduct  of  the  one  to 

*  Paley's  Philosophy.— Moral  Science.         f  M.  Cousin. 


OF    SLAVERY.  85 

be  right,  and  of  the  other  to  be  wrong,  and  have  a 
definite  idea  of  that  right  and  that  wrong,  each  in 
itself.  And  we  furthermore  say,  that  human 
nature  cultivated  to  the  highest  degree  bears  the 
same  testimony  to  the  difference  in  the  conduct 
of  this  father  and  this  son,  and  attaches  essentially 
the  same  ideas  to  that  difference.  In  calling  the 
one  right  and  the  other  wrong,  men  say,  and  they 
mean  to  say,  that  the  one  is  good  and  the  other  is 
evil.  This  is  the  uniform  judgment  of  human 
reason — the  permanent  belief  of  mankind.  To 
this  common  sense  bears  ample  testimony.  Gram 
marians  have  not  invented  languages.  Govern 
ment  itself  dates  back  of  legislators — they  have 
only  modified  it.  Philosophers  have  not  invented 
beliefs  :  without  concert,  without  conventions,  the 
world  has  fallen  upon  certain  beliefs,  and  certain 
signs  to  express  these  beliefs.  In  the  secret 
chambers  of  the  soul,  not  of  any  one  individual 
man,  but  of  all  men  individually,  consciousness 
bears  testimony  that  such  and  such  is  the  belief 
of  all  men,  and  this  we  call  the  judgment  of  com 
mon  sense ;  and  such  is  also  her  testimony  in  all 
languages  as  to  the  thing  that  is  right,  and  that 
the  right  in  any  given  case  is  the  idea  we  have  of 
the  good  in  that  case.  The  right,  then,  is  the  good. 
"  Right,  rcctus"  says  Webster,  "  straightness, 
rectitude ;"  which  he  explains  to  be  conformity  to 


86  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

rule  or  law,  and  that  the  -mil  of  God  is  the  ulti 
mate  rule  or  law  which  determines  the  right  or 
the  wrong  in  all  cases.  Hence  conformity  to  this 
rule  is  the  generic  idea  of  the  right  in  itself,  ac 
cording  to  Webster.  In  this  view,  Home  Tooke, 
in  his  Diversions  of  Piuiey,  concurs.  As  his 
criticism  is  ingenious,  instructive,  and  generally 
truthful,  I  quote  the  more  material  portion  of  his 
article  on  rights.  After  telling  us  in  his  dialogue 
that  Johnson  only  informs  us  that  right  is  not 
wrong,  and  wrong  is  not  right,  he  adds  : 

"  H.  RIGHT  is  no  other  than  RECTWW,  (regetumj) 
the  past  participle  of  the  Latin  verb  regere,  etc. 

"  In  the  same  manner,  our  English  word  JUST  is 
the  past  participle  of  the  verb  jubere. 

"  DECREE,  EDICT,  STATUTE,  INSTITUTE,  MANDATE, 
PRECEPT,  are  all  past  participles. 

"  F.  What  then  is  law  ? 

"  H.  It  is  merely  the  past  tense  and  past  parti 
ciple  of  the  Gothic  and  Anglo-Saxon  verb  which 
means  something  or  any  thing  laid  down  as  a  rule 
of  conduct.  Thus  when  a  man  demands  his  RIGHT, 
he  asks  only  that  which  it  is  ordered  he  shall 
have.  A  RIGHT  conduct  is  that  Avhich  is  ordered: 
a  RIGHT  reckoning  is  that  which  is  ordered  :  a  RIGHT 
line  is  that  which  is  ordered  or  directed \  (riot  a  ran 
dom  extension,  but)  the  shortest  between  two 
points  :  the  RIGHT  road  is  that  ordered  to  be  passed 


OF     SLAVERY.  87 

(for  the  object  you  have  in  view  :)  to  do  RIGHT  is 
to  do  that  which  is  ordered  to  be  done :  to  be  in 
the  RIGHT  is  to  be  in  such  situation  or  circum 
stances  as  are  ordered:  to  have  RIGHT  or 'law  on 
one's  side  is  to  have  in  one's  favor  that  which  is 
ordered  or  laid  down :  a  RIGHT  and  JUST  action  is 
such  an  one  as  is  ordered  and  commanded :  a  JUST 
man  is  such  as  he  is  commanded  to  be — qui  leges 
juraque  servat — who  observes  and  obeys  the 
things  laid  down  or  commanded ;  and  the  RIGHT 
hand  is  that  which  custom  and  those  who  have 
brought  us  up  have  ordered  or  directed  us  to  use 
in  preference,  when  one  hand  only  is  employed ; 
and  the  LEFT  hand  is  that  which  is  leaved,  left,  or 
which  we  are  taught  to  leave  out  of  use  on  such 
occasions.  So  that  left,  you  see,  is  also  a  past 
participle. 

"  F.  Every  thing,  then,  that  is  ordered  and  com 
manded  is  RIGHT  and  JUST  ? 

"  H.  Surely ;  for  that  is  only  affirming  that 
what  is  ordered  and  commanded,  is  ordered  and 
commanded. 

"  F.  Now  what  becomes  of  your  vaunted  RIGHTS 
of  man  ?  According  to  you,  the  chief  merit  of  man 
is  obedience;  and  whatever  is  ordered  and  com 
manded  is  RIGHT  and  JUST.  This  is  pretty  well  for 
a  democrat.  And  those  have  always  been  your 
sentiments  ? 


88  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

"  H.  Always  ;  and  those  sentiments  confirm  my 
democracy. 

"  F.  Those  sentiments  do  not  appear  to  have 
made  you  very  conspicuous  for  obedience.  There 
are  not  a  few  passages,  I  believe,  in  your  life, 
where  you  have  opposed  what  was  ordered  and 
commanded.  Upon  your  principles,  was  that  RIGHT  ? 

"H.  Perfectly.  " 

"  F;  How  now  !  Was  it  ordered  and  commanded 
that  you  should  oppose  what  was  ordered  and  com 
manded!  Can  the  same  thing  be  at  the  same 
time  both  RIGHT  and  WRONG  ? 

"  H.  Travel  back  to  Melinda,  and  you  will  find 
the  difficujty  easily  solved."  (The  people  of 
Melinda  are  all  left-handed,  i.  e.,  their  right  is  our 
left.  But  they  are  as  ny^-handed  as  we  are ;  for 
they  use  that  hand  in  preference  which  is  ordered 
by  their  custom,  and  is  therefore  their  right  liand, 
and  leave  out  of  employ  the  other,  which  is,  there 
fore,  their  left  hand.)  "A  thing  may  be  at  the 
same  time  both  RIGHT  and  WRONG,  as  well  as  RIGHT 
and  LEFT.  It  may  be  commanded  to  be  done  and 
commanded  not  to  be  done.  The  law — that  which 
is  laid  down — may  be  different  by  different  autho 
rities. 

"  I  have  always  been  most  obedient  when  most 
taxed  with  disobedience.  But  my  RIGHT  hand  is 
not  the  RIGHT  hand  of  Melinda.  The  RIGHT  1 


OFSLAVERY.  89 

revere  is  not  the  right  ordered  by  sycophants  :  the 
jus  vagum,  the  capricious  command  of  princes  or 
ministers.  I  follow  the  LAW  of  God,  (what  is  laid 
•down  by  him  for  the  rule  of  my  conduct,)  when  I 
follow  the  laws  of  human  nature :  which  without 
any  human  testimony  we  know  must  proceed  from 
God ;  and  upon  these  are  founded  the  RIGHTS  of 
man,  or  what  is  ordered  for  man.  I  revere  the 
constitution  and  constitutional  laws  of  England, 
because  they  are  in  conformity  with  the  LAWS  of 
God  and  nature;  and  upon  these  are  founded  the 
rational  rights  of  Englishmen.  If  princes,  or 
ministers,  or  the  corrupt  sham-representatives  of 
the  people,  order ',  command,  or  lay  down  any  thing 
contrary  to  that  which  is  ordered,  commanded,  or 
laid  down  by  God,  human  nature,  or  the  constitu 
tion  of  this  government,  I  will  still  hold  fast  by 
the  higher  authorities.  If  the  meaner  authorities 
are  offended,  they  can  only  destroy  the  body  of 
the  individual,  but  never  can  affect  the  RIGHT,  or 
that  which  is  ordered  by  their  superiors."* 

Thus  he  is  found  to  agree  with  Webster,  that 
the  will  of  God  is  the  ultimate  genus  of  the  RIGHT. 
That  is  RIGHT,  which  conforms  to  the  will  of  God 
as  laid  down  in  law — whether  that  law  be  a  written 
revelation,  nature,  or  the  customs  of  society,  (as  in 

*  See  his  whole  article  on  Rights. 


90  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

the  case  of  the  right  and  left  hand,)  as  the  exponent 
of  that  will — they  are  what  is  ordered  in  the  case, 
and  make  the  RIGHT.  Hence  he  condemns  as 
"  wretched  mummery"  the  distinction  admitted 
by  M.  Portalis,  between  obedience  to  a  command, 
'  and  obedience  to  what  is  RIGHT  and  JUST  in  itself, 
and,  on  the  same  ground,  pronounces  it  "highly 
improper"  to  say,  with  Mr.  Locke,  "  God  has  a 
RIGHT  to  do  it :  we  are  his  creatures."  For  truly 
if  his  will  be  the  ultimate  genus  of  RIGHT,  then  he 
can  have  no  rights,  for  there  is  certainly  no  supe 
rior  to  whose  commands  he  conforms  in  the  acts  of 
his  will.  But  precisely  at  this  point  let  us  take 
our  stand.  I  affirm  on  the  authority  of  Scripture, 
no  less  than  sound  philosophy,  (always  in  har 
mony,)  that  God  has  RIGHTS,  and  that  the  distinc 
tion  of  M.  Portalis  is  in  many  instances  correct ; 
and  that  hence  Tooke,  Dr.  Paley,  (who  also  con 
curs  in  this  view — see  his  article  Rights,  in  his 
Moral  Philosophy,)  Dr.  Webster,  with  many 
others  of  great  distinction,  strangely  err,  not  in 
their  etymology  of  this  word,  but  in  that  hypo 
thesis  by  which  they  make  it  a  significate  of  the 
will  of  God.  We  cannot  agree  with  them  that 
RIGHTS  and  DUTIES  which  are  reciprocal,  are  resolv 
able  only  into  the  will  of  God — have  his  will  alone 
for  their  ultimate  foundation.  I  take  ground  back 
of  this.  True,  I  say  with  them — and  I  claim  full 


OF    SLAVEKY.  91 

• 

credit  in  the  declaration — that  the  volitions,  the 
acts  of  God,  are  always  RIGHT  ;  but  I  do  not  say 
that  his  will  makes  the  essential  or  true  distinc 
tion  between  right  and  wrong.  We  dare  not  as 
sume  that  God,  could,  by  an  act  of  volition,  make 
the  right  to  be  the  wrong,  and  the  wrong  to  be  the 
right — good  evil,  and  evil  good !  It  is  absurd  to 
assume  that  God  can  do  things  that  are  in  them 
selves  contradictory.  Omnipotent,  we  know,  he 
is ;  but  such  things  are  not  the  objects  of  power, 
any  more  than  things  which  are  the  objects  of 
power,  are,  in  the  same  sense,  the  objects  of 
Omniscience.  To  affirm  that  he  could  make  the 
right  to  be  the  wrong,  is  as  false  as  it  would  be 
impious  to  affirm  that  he  would  do  it,  if  he  could — 
false,  because,  if  he  can,  he  has  not  deposited 
the  truth  in  that  great  master-work  of  his  hand, 
the  mind  of  man;  for,  by  the  power  of  the  intui 
tion  he  has  given  us,  we  are  assured  that  the  idea 
is  in  itself  a  gross  absurdity.  And  if  this  be  not 
decisive  of  the  question,  then  neither  intuition  nor 
the  deductions  of  intuition  are  of  any  authority. 
Man  is  the  victim  of  a  false  guide  within !  He 
may  "  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  he  dies !" 
There  will  be  no  more  of  him ;  or,  what  is  worse, 
he  is  but  a  link  in  a  chain  of  sentient  beings  who 
are  governed  by  a  cruel  fate,  which  regards  not 
the  distinctions  of  right  and  ivrong ;  and  he  may 


92  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

be  the  sport  of  wickedness  in  the  world  to  come, 
as  he  has  been  the  victim  of  deception  in  this  !  I 
think  it  more  than  error  to  reason  thus  !  I  think 
it  profane ! 

We  may  take  ground  back  of  this — ground  as 
honorable  to  God  as  it  is  exalting  to  man  and 
encouraging  to  his  hopes.  It  is  true,  that  both 
rectitude  and  duty,  together  with  liberty,  are 
resolvable  into  the  essential  good.  Or,  in  other 
words,  freedom,  rectitude,  and  duty  are  the  modes 
of  thought  in  which  we  conceive  of  the  good  as 
existing  in  the  soul  of  man,  and  that  they  are, 
each  of  them,  in  their  distinct  nature  and  harmoni 
ous  union,  the  true  ideal  of  the  good — the  modes 
of  thought,  also,  in  which  the  intuition  of  man  per 
ceives  the  good  in  the  case  of  every  moral  action 
which  is  good.  And  concerning  the  good  in  itself, 
which  is  thus  in  an  humble  degree  perceived  by 
us,  it  is  certainly  a  reality  which  is  immutable  and 
eternal.  God  did  not  make  it — nor  was  it  made. 
It  is  of  the  essential  nature  of  God,  and  eternal. 
He  is  the  great  impersonation  of  the  good.  His 
will,  his  volitions,  in  all  cases,  are  but  the  expres 
sions  of  this  high  attribute.  His  will,  therefore, 
always  conforming  to  the  essential  good,  is  a  per 
fect  rule  of  what  is  right  in  itself,  and  proper  to 
be  observed  by  us,  as  a  rule  of  duty  or  conduct. 
Such  a  rule,  it  will  be  seen,  is  eminently  adapted  to 


OF    SLAVERY.  93 

the  wants  of  humanity ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  his 
will  and  the  good  are  different  realities.  The  one 
is  an  essential  quality  of  his  holy  nature,  and  the 
other  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  an  expression  of  this 
attribute  in  the  form  of  volitions.  That  the  will 
of  God  did  not  make  the  right  in  itself,  will  readily 
appear.  Is  it  to  be  conceived  that  there  ever  was 
a  period  in  eternity  past,  when  truth  was  not 
truth,  or  when  truth  did  not  exist  ?  when  the  good 
was  not  the  good,  or  when  the  good  did  not  exist  ? 
But  does  it  not  accord  with  the  clearest  teachings 
of  reason,  that  the  truth  always  was  the  truth, 
and  ever  will  be  the  truth  ?  that  the  good  always 
will  be  the  good  ?  That  two  and  two  are  equal  to 
four ;  that  to  affirm  a  thing  to  be  and  not  to  be 
At  the  same  time  is  an  absurdity  and  a  contradic 
tion;  and  that  things  equal  to  one  and  the  same 
thing  are  equal  to  one  another,  we  say  are  all  in 
tuitive  truths — we  cannot  be  mistaken  about 
them.  So  also  in  morals  :  that  the  truth  is  good ; 
that  virtue  is  good ;  that  a  good  action  is  not  an 
evil  action ;  and  that  to  affirm  that  a  good  action 
is  not  a  good  action  is  an  absurdity,  a  contradic 
tion,  we  say,  are  all  intuitions — we  cannot  be  mis 
taken  about  them.  But  is  it  not  equally  intuitive 
that  these  things  were  always  so — that  these 
truths  were  always  truths — the  good  was  always 
the  good,  just  as  certainly  as  that  they  are  so 


94  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

now  ?  Then  the  eternity  of  these  things  is  just  as 
certainly  an  intuition,  as  that  they  exist  now  is  an 
intuition.  Hence  the  eternity  of  God,  who  is  the 
great  impersonation  of  this  high  quality,  or  whose 
attribute  it  is,  is  an  intuitive  truth.  Hence  his 
will  did  not  make  it,  for  it  is  absurd  to  say  that 
he  made  himself.  His  will,  therefore,  which,  in 
given  cases,  is  his  volition,  is  but  the  expression 
of  this  essential  quality  of  his  holy  nature.  Hence 
his  will  is  a  rule  of  right,  because  in  all  cases  it 
conforms  to  the  good,  but  it  did  not  make  the 
good. 

Therefore  the  RIGHT,  as  it  conforms  to  the  essen 
tial  GOOD,  is  of  the  nature  of  the  GOOD.  It  is  pro 
perly  a  significate  of  the  good,  and  not  a  significate 
of  the  will  of  God.  Things  agreeing  with  one  and 
the  same  thing  agree  with  each  other.  Hence  it 
coincides  with  the  will  of  God.  But  such  coin 
cidence  does  not  constitute  any  thing  right  in 
itself;  but  it  is  because,  like  the  will  of  God,  it 
conforms  to,  or  is  of  the  nature  of,  the  ESSENTIAL 
GOOD,  that  it  is  right.  The  RIGHT  then,  in  itself,  is 
the  GOOD.  The  GOOD  is  the  true  generic  idea  which 
classifies  all  the  different  applications  of  this  term. 
So  far  as  any  thing  is  of  the  nature  of  the  GOOD,  it 
is  in  itself  RIGHT.  So  far  as  any  thing,  to  which 
the  idea  of  the  RIGHT  applies,  is  negative  of  the 
y  i.  e.,  is  evil,  it  is  WRONG. 


OF    SLAVERY.  95 

The  GOOD,  therefore,  as  an  ultimate  genus,  is 
much  more  extensive  in  meaning  than  the  RIGHT. 
It  extends  to  all  physical  as  well  as  moral  good. 
Our  subject  requires  us  to  consider  it  only  so  far 
as  it  applies  to  humanity.  And  how  far  is  this  ? 
When  Jehovah  created  man,  he  pronounced  him  to 
be  "  very  good,"  i.  e.,  essentially  good  in  the  attri 
butes  of  his  nature.  He  was  created  in  "  his  own 
image  :  in  the  image  of  God  created  he  him." 
"And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of 
the  ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the 
breath  of  life ;  and  man  became  a  living  soul" 
That  is,  he  was  created  a  pure  spiritual  intelli 
gence.  He  had  a  clear  and  correct  perception  and 
judgment  of  pure  abstract  truth,  and  of  thp  rela 
tions  of  truth  ;  with  the  corresponding  feelings  of 
obligation  to  duty,  and  a  power  of  will  sufhcient 
to  control  the  mental  states  within  the  sphere  of 
its  operations.  Now,  as  a  pure  intelligence,  thus 
endowed,  he  is  within  the  limits  of  his  capacity  a 
cause  within  himself — strictly  a  self-acting  agent, 
and  hence  accountable.  And  as  he  was  created 
with  a  feeling  of  obligation  to  observe  the  good  as 
a  rule  in  all  his  conduct,  he  was  created  a  subject 
of  duty — he  was  under  obligation  to  do,  to  act; 
and  as  in  each  of  these  respects,  and  in  all  others, 
he  was  created  in  conformity  with  the  essential 
good,  he  was  rectus,  right.  All  this  is  implied  in 


96  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

that  declaration  of  his  essential  nature,  as  a  pure 
spiritual  intelligence,  (who  was  therein  made  in 
the  image  of  God,)  which  defined  him  to  be  "  very 
good"    Nor  can  we  think  of  this  good  as  a  quality 
or  attribute  of  humanity,  without  being  conscious, 
if  we  reflect  closely,  of  associating  in  our  minds 
the  idea  that  the  being  who  personates  it  is  for 
that  reason  free;  that  for  that  reason  he  is  rectus, 
straight,  conformed  to  the  good  as  the  rule,  that 
is,  right ;  and  that  for  the  same  reason  he  is  under 
obligation — it  is  his  duty  to  act  according  to  that 
rule.     Every  instance  of  moral  action  that  is  good 
implies  these  ideas  :  it  is  free,  it  is  rectus,  straight, 
and  it  is  done  in  accordance  with  duty.     In  the 
same  sense  in  which  life,  sense,  and  motion  enter 
into  and  so  form  the  comprehension  of  the  crea 
ture,  animal;  so  liberty,  rectitude,  and  duty  form 
the  comprehension  of  moral   good,  so  far   as  it 
applies  to  humanity.      These  are   distinct  ideas. 
Still  they  coincide,  and  either  implies  the  others  as 
correlatives.     Hence  we  say  of  a  free  action  that 
it  is  good,  implying  that  it  is  at  the  same  time 
rectus,  and  done  in  accordance  with  duty ;  and  of 
an  action  in  conformity  to  a  proper  rule,  that  it  is 
good,  implying  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  free,  and 
done  in  accordance  with  duty ;    and  also   of  an 
action  in  compliance  with  duty,  that  it  is  good, 
implying  that  it  is  also  free,  and  straight,  i.  e., 


OF    SLAVERY.  97 

conformed  to  rule  :  thus  in  each  case  we  imply  the 
correlative  ideas. 

Now,  whatever  is  in  my  possession  by  natural 
endowment  is  mine,  in  the  strictest  sense.  Hence. 
freedom  is  mine,  duty  is  mine,  and  rectitude  is 
mine,  because  the  good  is  mine,  and  those  are  the 
elements  of  the  good,  each  one  implying  the 
others. 

Hence  arises  the  idea  of  natural  right :  that  is, 
the  right  with  which  I  am  endowed  by  the  consti 
tution  of  my  nature  as  a  rational  being.  But 
what  is  that  RIGHT  ?  Evidently,  the  good.  The 
good  as  an  attribute  is  in  my  possession.  I  am 
constituted  with  it  and  by  it.  Hence  it  is  inalien 
able.  Divest  me  of  the  good  as  an  attribute  of 
my  nature,  i.  e.,  liberty,  rectitude,  and  duty,  and 
I  sink  at  once  in  the  scale  of  being :  I  cease  alto 
gether  to  be  a  rational  or  accountable  being. 

Let  no  one  imagine  that  this  position  conflicts 
with  the  well-known  fact  that  man  is  a  fallen 
being.  For  although  Mien,  he  is  still  account 
able.  True,  his  moral  nature  is  in  ruins,  but  still 
it  is  a  moral  nature.  Though  .disordered,  it  is  not 
eradicated.  Hence  the  restoration  by  grace  is 
called  a  conversion;  but  if  the  essential  moral 
nature  of  man  had  been  destroyed  by  the  fall,  and 
an  attribute  of  essential  evil  had  taken  the  place 
of  it,  his  restoration  could  not  be  called,  as  it  is,  a 
5 


98  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

change,  but  should  be  called  in  the  strictest  sense 
an  original  creation.  Hence,  although  man  is 
fallen,  depraved — and  we  need  not  object  to  the 
strong  terms  in  which  this  depravity  is  usually 
expressed — still  we  find  that  the  sentiment  of  all 
mankind  is  on  the  side  of  virtue,  on  the  side  of 
the  good;  and  that  men,  though  unchanged  by 
sovereign  grace,  are  still  required  to  be  honest, 
gentlemanly,  and  in  all  things  regardful  of  each 
other's  rights.  We  admit  of  exceptions  or  modi 
fications  of  this  only  in  the  case  of  those  in  whom 
humanity  has  not  been  fully  developed,  as  before 
noticed,  and  those  in  civilized  life  who  have  so  far 
abused  their  moral  nature  as,  in  the  language  of 
Paul,  to  fit  themselves  for  destruction.  There 
fore,  it  still  remains  that  the  good  in  the  form  of 
rectitude,  right,  is  in  some  modification  an  endow 
ment  of  my  nature :  the  right,  in  itself,  is  mine 
by  nature. 

But  the  good,  as  an  attribute,  is  an  active  prin 
ciple.  We  were  endowed  with  it  for  the  purpose 
of  movement — for  results.  It  is  my  duty  to  act 
right — straight,  or  in  accordance  with  the  good  as 
a  rule.  Hence,  whatever  is  a  necessary  condition 
of  the  operation  of  this  active  principle,  the  essen 
tial  good,  is  in  itself  a  good  which  is  either  in  my 
possession,  and  hence  is  mine  by  possession ;  or 
it  ought  to  be  in  my  possession,  and  hence  is  mine 


OF    SLAVERY.  99 

by  just  title.  Hence,  to  breathe,  under  all  cir 
cumstances,  together  with  all  physical'  motion  and 
the  sustenance  of  the  body,  which  involves  the 
right  of  property  to  a  certain  extent,  each  in  given 
circumstances,  is  the  natural  right  of  every  one. 
So  also  the  right  of  the  embryo-man,  the  idiot, 
the  imbecile,  the  uncivilized,  or  the  savage,  to 
protection  and  defence,  is  a  natural  right ;  and  for 
the  same  reason,  to  be  protected  and  defended 
from  certain  helpless  conditions  by  others,  is  the 
natural  right  of  every  one  in  all  states  of  human 
ity.  Because  each  of  these,  and  of  all  similar 
things,  is  in  itself  good,  being  a  necessary  condition 
of  the  operation  of  the  essential  good,  and  is  either 
in  our  possession  or  ought  to  be  in  our  possession  ; 
each  one  is  also  a  natural  right,  the  good  that  is 
or  ought  to  be  in  our  possession. 

But  there'  are  acquired  rights. 

It  is  the  duty  of  man  to  act,  from  the  very  fact 
that  he  is  endowed  with  the  attribute  of  the  good, 
which  envelops  the  idea  of  duty.  He  also  has 
power  to  act  from  the  very  same  natural  constitu 
tion.  Now,  if  he  use  this  power  as  duty  and  rec 
titude  indicate  that  he  should  do,  all  nature 
teaches,  what  the  Bible  confirms,  that  he  will 
glorify  God,  i.  e.,  exemplify  his  goodness,  and 
therein  promote  his  own  happiness  and  the  happi 
ness  of  those  with  whom  he  is  associated;  or,  in 


100  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

othe^  words,  he  will  secure  for  himself  and  confer 
upon  his  fellows  eminent  benefits  resulting  from 
the  performance  of  his  duty.  Now,  whatever  re 
sults  to  him  in  this  way  is  certainly  his  by  pos 
session,  or  by  Divine  grant,  as  much  so  as  any 
natural  right;  but  these  benefits,  being  of  the  nature 
of  the  essential  good,  (for  the  reason  that  they  are 
benefits,  are  in  themselves  right,)  result  to  him  in 
the  performance  of  his  duty,  and  therefore  are  his 
rights.  But  the  acquisition  is  made  to  depend 
upon  the  exercise  of  his  arbitrary  volition.  If  he 
use  this  in  pursuance  of  duty,  they  follow.  If  he 
use  it  in  violation  of  duty,  they  do  not  follow. 
Hence,  if  he  realize  them  at  all,  either  by  posses 
sion  or  by  title,  they  are  acquired,  and  therefore 
are  acquired  rights  or  benefits. 

Therefore,  acquired  rights  may  be  defined,  such 
good,  in  the  form  of  benefits  or  privileges,  as  results 
from  the  performance  of  duty.  Logically,  they 
belong  to  the  class  of  the  essential  good  called 
benefits  or  privileges,  with  the  "  essential  differ 
ence"  that  they  are  such  as  result  from  the  per 
formance  of  duty.  Any  other  result,  though  in 
itself  of  the  nature  of  the  essential  good,  yet,  as  it 
conferred  no  benefit,  could  not  be  said  to  be  our 
right.  Capital  punishment,  for  example,  when  in 
accordance  with  the  Divine  will,  is  in  itself  of  the 
nature  of  the  essential  good ;  still,  it  would  be  an 


OF    SLAVERY.  101 

abuse  of  language  to  say,  in  any  ordinary  case, 
that  it  was  the  right  of  the  criminal  to  be  hung ! 
because  for  no  reason  that  we  can  imagine  does 
it  confer  any  benefit  or  privilege  upon  the  criminal. 
To  be  acquired  rights,  therefore,  they  must  not 
only  be  of  the  nature  of  the  geod — that  is,  actual 
benefits — but  this  good  must  result  from  the  per 
formance  of  duty,  and  not  from  the  non-perform 
ance  of  duty,  as  in  the  example  given. 

The  definition  corresponds  with  the  language  of 
common  sense.  All  men,  in  speaking  of  cases 
which  are  supposed  to  involve  the  question  of 
rights,  employ  the  term  in  this  sense.  You  say, 
of  a  former  in  a  given  case,  that  he  had  no 
right  to  an  abundant  harvest :  why  ?  because  he 
neglected  his  farm:  his  lands  were  not  properly 
prepared,  and  the  growing  crop  was  left  open  to 
depredations  from  stock  :  that  is,  he  neglected  his 
duty ;  he  had  no  right  to  the  benefit  of  an  abund 
ant  harvest.  And  again,  you  say  to  a  neighbor, 
You  should  have  paid  a  certain  sum  of  money  to 
A.,  in  a  given  case.  He  had  a  right  to  the  money, 
because  he  complied  with  the  conditions  on  which 
the  money  was  to  be  paid.  He  did  his  duty,  and 
therefore  had  a  right  to  the  money.  Thus,  the 
neglect  of  duty  negatives  right  in  the  one  case, 
and  the  performance  affirms  it  in  the  other,  ac 
cording  to  the  common  usage  of  language. 


102  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PEACTICE 

% 

Another  idea  which  clearly  enters  into  the  com 
mon  and  correct  use  of  this  term  is  that  it  is  recip 
rocal  with  obligation :  that  is,  wherever  there  is  a 
right  in  one  person,  there  is  a  corresponding  obli 
gation,  duty,  upon  others.  If  one  man  has  a  right 
to  an  estate,  others  are  under  obligation,  that  is,  it 
is  their  duty,  to  abstain  from  it.  If  the  letting  of  it 
alone  be  the  result  of  duty  on  the  part  of  others, 
the  enjoyment  of  it  by  him  must  also  result  from 
duty  on  his  part,  or  the  ideas  do  not  coincide : 
that  which  was  duty  in  one  set  of  men  would  not 
be  duty  in  another,  in  regard  to  the  same  thing, 
and  in  correlative  circumstances.  This  would  be 
absurd :  therefore,  the'  duty  of  one  set  of  men  to 
let  another  alone  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  certain 
benefit,  implies  the  correlative  idea  that  they 
enjoy  the  benefit  in  virtue  of  doing  their  duty. 
Hence,  those  benefits  which  are  our  rights  result 
to  us  from  the  performance  of  our  duty. 

The  points  established  in  this  discussion  are : 
1.  That  conformity  to  what  is  ordered  or  com 
manded  is  not  the  true  generic  idea  of  the  right 
in  itself.  What  is  ordered  or  commanded  can 
only  interpret  the  right,  when  the  command  itself 
conforms  to  the  essential  good,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Divine  will.  This  is  always  right,  because  it 
so  conforms,  or  is  always  an  expression  of  the 
essential  good. 


OF     SLAVERY.  103 

Hence,  the  good  is  the  true  generic  idea  of  the 
right.  This  alone  can  interpret  the  right  in  any 
case.  Therefore,  although  man,  in  virtue  of  his 
constitution  as  a  pure  intelligence,  has  the  power 
to  do  ivrong,  he  has  not,  and  never  can  have,  the 
right  to  do  wrong.  For  wrong  is  the  negative  of 
right ;  and  any  thing,  whether  attribute,  quality, 
opinion,  doctrine,  or  act — every  thing,  whether 
moral  or  physical — to  be  right,  must  be  of  the 
nature  of  the  good:  all  else  is  wrong,  not  right. 
And  it  further  follows,  that  the  only  true  subjec 
tive  right  which  any  man  has  to  exercise  his 
power  of  self-control,  is  in  doing  that  which  is 
good,  and  not  in  doing  that  which  is  evil. 

2.  The  natural  rights  of  man  are, 

First — The  essential  good  in  his  possession  by 
natural  endowment,  and  which  is  therefore  inalien 
able.  And,  Second — The  necessary  conditions, 
whatever  they  may  be,  of  the  operation  of  the 
inherent  good  as  an  active  principle.  Some  of 
these  are  inalienable,  and  others  are  alienable. 
To  this  view  of  natural  rights  the  common  usage 
of  language  conforms. 

3.  The  acquired  rights  of  man  are,  such  good, 
in  the  form  of  benefits  or  privileges,  as  results  to 
him  from  the  performance  of  duty. 


104  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PBACTICE 


LECTURE    V. 

THE   DOCTRINES   OF   EIGHTS   APPLIED   TO   GOVERNMENT. 

Government,  human  as  well  as  Divine,  is  a  necessity  of  man's 
fallen  condition — All  men  concur  in  this — Man  did  not  origin 
ate  government :  he  has  only  modified  the  form — The  legitimate 
objects  of  government,  and  the  means  which  it  employs  to 
effect  these  objects — The  logical  inferences:  1.  Although  he 
has  the  power,  he  has  no  right  to  do  wrong ;  2.  As  a  fallen 
being,  he  is,  without  a  government  over  him,  liable  to  lose  the 
power  of  self-control — What  are  the  rights  of  man  :  1.  In  a 
state  of  infancy ;  2.  In  a  state  of  maturity ;  and,  3.  -In  a 
savage  or  uncivilized  state — Civil  government  is  not  founded 
on  a  concession  of  rights. 

PHILOSOPHERS,  it  seems  to  me,  strangely  over 
look  the  tendency  of  man's  fall  to  modify  the  ope 
ration  of  the  laws  of  mind;  and  those  who  admit 
the  fall  still  overlook  this  fact,  that  the  depravity 
of  man's  nature  was  the  result  of  deprivation,  and 
not  the  infusion  of  an  evil  principle  as  an  attribute 
of  his  nature.  But  it  is  not  with  the  theology  of 
this  subject  that  we  are  now  dealing.  The  fact 
that,  as  a  fallen  being,  he  was  deprived  of  the  im- 


OF    SLAVERY.  105 

mediate  presiding  influence  of  the  Divine  Spirit, 
is  the  matter  that  more  immediately  engages  our 
attention.  His  lower  physical  nature,  the  great 
medium  of  the  soul's  communication  with  the  out 
ward  world,  and  of  consciousness  in  the  embodied 
state,  originally  operated  in  perfect  and  harmonious 
subordination  to  his  higher  spiritual  nature.  In 
this  condition,  his  appetites,  propensities,  and  pas 
sions  presented  no  bar  to  his  happiness,  or  to  that 
of  his  fellows.  The  government  or  control  which 
his  situation  demanded,  we  may  suppose,  was 
simple,  and  concerned  chiefly  his  relation  to  the 
Deity.  But  when,  on  the  great  occasion  of  his 
trial,  he  exercised  his  power  of  self-action,  and 
exalted  this  nature  as  a  rule  of  moral  action,  in 
stead  of  the  essential  good  of  his  higher  nature, 
of  which  the  will  of  God  in  the  given  case  was  the 
full  and  just  exponent,  there  resulted  a  depriva 
tion  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  such  as  entirely  changed 
the  relation  of  those  departments  of  his  nature. 
Under  the  clouded  condition  of  intellect  conse 
quent  upon  this  deprivation,  his  lower  nature, 
with  its  appetites,  propensities,  and  passions,  is 
brought  into  constant  and  fierce  conflict  with  his 
spiritual  nature.  This  change  in  the  condition  of 
his  humanity  presents  his  case  in  an  aspect  alto 
gether  new.  The  history  of  each  individual  man 
becomes  the  history  of  a  warfare — a  warfare  with 
5* 


106  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

himself,  and  a  warfare  with  his  fellows.  With  a 
highly  vigorous  moral  nature,  he  is  also  the  sub 
ject  of  a  carnal  or  depraved  nature.  In  this  state 
of  things,  government  becomes  an  actual  necessity 
of  his  condition.  The  Divine  government,  with  all 
the  aids  and  appliances  afforded  by  the  grand 
scheme  of  atonement,  must  appeal  to  his  passions, 
both  of  hope  and  of  fear.  For  it  is  only  by  re 
ducing  his  lower  nature  to  its  originally  subordi 
nate  and  harmonious  position  that  an  equilibrium 
will  be  established,  and  his  primordial  happiness 
regained.  But  the  Divine  government,  though 
operating  in  harmony  with  the  claims  of  his  moral 
nature,  and  founded  upon  the  relation  which  he 
sustains  to  Jehovah,  and  indispensable  to  his  hap 
piness  here  and  hereafter,  of  itself  alone  does  not 
meet  a  great  many  of  the  immediate  demands  of 
his  condition.  Hence  the  statement  of  Solomon : 
"Because  sentence  against  an  evil  work  is  not 
executed  speedily,  therefore  the  heart  of  the  sons 
of  men  is  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil."  The  con 
sequences  of  obedience,  high  and  holy  as  they 
are,  and  the  consequences  of  disobedience,  great 
and  terrible  as  they  are,  are  too  remote  from  man, 
in  many  states  of  "intellect  and  feeling  in  which  he 
often  places  himself,  to  meet  the  immediate  de 
mands  of  his  nature.  Hence,  that  modification  of 
government  called  civil  government,  is  no  less  de- 


OF    SLAVERY.  107 

manded   by  the  necessities  of  his  condition  than 
the  Divine. 

Civil  government  deals  chiefly  with  the  relations 
of  man  to  his  fellow-man.  It  coincides  with  the 
Divine  government.  They  each  aim  at  the  con 
trol  of  the  lower  nature  of  man,  and  the  develop 
ment  of  his  higher  nature.  The  means  they 
employ  are  the  same  in  principle.  They  address 
the  same  passions.  The  rewards  and  punish 
ments  of  the  one  are  in  this  life,  and  of  the  other 
chiefly  in  the  life  to  come.  Withal,  the  civil  has 
the  sanction  of  the  Divine,  and  the  Divine  should 
always  have  the  sanction  of  the  civil,  government. 
But  still  they  are  entirely  distinct,  and  should  not 
be  confounded  either  in  theory  or  in  practice 
The  one  is  secular,  and  the  other  is  Divine. 

Now,  we  say  that  civil  government — for  of  that 
we  are  called  more  particularly  to  speak — is  a 
necessity  of  mans  condition.  It  dates  back  as  early 
as  the  creation  of  man.  God  himself  established 
it  in  the  law  he  gave  to  govern  the  first  relation 
that  existed  on  earth — the  relation  between  Adam 
and  his  "  helpmeet."  After  the  fall,  a  necessity 
arose  which  gave  it  a  new  and  more  important 
bearing.  We  soon  see  it  ramifying  itself  through 
all  society,  and  dealing  with  all  the  relations  of 
life. 

Its  necessity  and  authority,  as  a  great  means  of 


108  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

controlling  the  lower  nature  of  man,  is  among  the 
permanent  beliefs  of  mankind.  Neither  legislators 
nor  philosophers  originated  these  beliefs.  They 
are  among  the  intuitions  of  man.  The  common 
judgment  of  mankind  is  not  more  assured  that 
man  exists,  than  that  fallen  man  must  be  con 
trolled  in  his  appetites,  propensities,  and  passions 
— the  sum  of  what  is  often  considered  his  interest 
and  his  happiness — by  the  physical  powers  of  gov 
ernment.  Each  individual  man  feels  that  he  needs 
its  powerful  sanctions  to  arm  him  against  himself, 
when  violently  tempted  to  do  wrong ;  and  that  he 
needs  its  sanctions  to  protect  him  from  outrage  and 
wrong  from  his  fellow-men,  when  moved  by  similar 
forces.  The  instincts  of  animal  nature  are  not 
more  certain  in  their  movements  than  are  the  in 
tuitive  perceptions  and  spontaneous  feelings  of 
mankind,  causing  them  to  lean  upon  the  strong 
arm  of  civil  government,  to  control  the  propensi 
ties  and  passions,  and  to  promote  the  free  exercise 
of  the  higher  moral  nature  of  man. 

Government  is  -  the  whole  society  in  action. 
No  people  wras  ever  known  to  exist  for  any  defi 
nite  period  without  government.  Sometimes,  it  is 
true,  the  form  has  been  the  result  of  implied  un 
derstandings  among  the  people — as  when  "  there 
was  no  judge  in  Israel :"  at  others,  a  master-spirit 
has  assumed  the  reins,  and  been  deferred  to  by 


OF    SLAVERY.  109 

common  consent ;  and  at  others,  it  has  been  modi 
fied  by  formal  processes — such  as  conventions  and 
constitutions.  Be  this,  however,  as  it  may,  gov 
ernment  has  always  existed.  Legislators  did  not 
make  it.  They  have  had  much  to  do  in  modify 
ing,  directing,  and  often  in  corrupting  the  form  ; 
but  nothing  to  do  in  originating  government,  in 
any  proper  sense  of  the  term.  It  sprang  sponta 
neously  from  the  common  sense  of  mankind.  An 
agent  indispensable  to  self-preservation  was  cer 
tainly  coeval  with  the  race. 

In  its  true  generic  sense,  that  is,  in  a  sense 
equally  applicable  to  all  forms,  government  is  con 
trol  by  the  authority  of  God  and  the  people. 
God,  in  his  word,  declares  the  authority  of  the 
magistrate  to  be  his  ordinance ;  and  this  accords 
with  the  intuitive  belief  and  feeling  of  necessity 
of  all  mankind :  not  that  either  approves  in  all 
cases  of  inform  which  government  assumes,  but 
that  the  generic  principle,  in  all  cases,  has  the 
sanction  of  each. 

The  legitimate  object  of  government  is  to  secure 
to  the  people  the  highest  amount  of  freedom  which 
their  moral  condition  and  relative  circumstances 
will  admit.  The  means  which  it  employs  to  effect 
this  object,  are,  1.  Suitable  penalties,  addressed 
to  their  hopes  and  fears,  to  lay  them  under  such 
restraints  as  to  the  indulgence  of  their  appetites, 


110  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

propensities,  and  passions,  as  thereby  to  prevent 
them  from  operating  as  a  bar  to  the  free  exercise 
of  their  intellectual  and  moral  powers  in  pursuit 
of  the  essential  good ;  and,  2.  The  security  which 
it  offers  to  every  man,  in  the  exercise  of  the  higher 
powers  of  his  nature,  that  he  may  do  it  without 
restraint  from  the  passions  of  men ;  or,  in  other 
words,  to  guarantee  to  every  man  the  free  exercise 
of  his  essential  power  to  do  good. 

That  both  the  object  of  government,  and  the 
means  which  it  employs,  are  correctly  stated, 
will  not  be  disputed.  All  men  concur  in  these 
views.  They  underlie  all  our  opinions  and  reason 
ings  on  the  subject  of  civil  government.  But 
in  assenting  to  this  much,  (and  how  can  it  be 
avoided  ?)  may  we  not  stand  committed  to  much 
more  than  many  theoretical  politicians  are  aware  ? 

Let  us  trace  the  logical  inferences  which  arise 
from  the  principles  discussed. 

I.  Man,  we  find,  is  endowed  with  a  self-acting 
power  of  will,  which  is  called  mental  liberty,  and 
hence  he  is  accountable.  For  although  it  is  ad 
mitted  that  there  cannot  be  a  volition  without  a 
motive,  yet  it  is  an  idea  inseparable  from  our 
notions  of  mental  liberty,  that  there  cannot  be  any 
thing  in  these  motives  necessitating  the  volition; 
for  in  that  case  it  would  not  be  free.  But  he  is 
froe  to  adopt  either  the  right  or  the  wrong  motive 


OF    SLAVERY.  Ill 

of  volition,  and  therefore  he  is  accountable  for  his 
actions.  Nor  does  it  follow  that  this  liberty  con 
fers  the  right  to  do  wrong.  His  liberty,  as  we 
have  shown,  is  to  be  understood  in  a  sense  agree 
ing  with  the  coincident  ideas  of  right  and  duty. 
We  are  all  conscious,  that  so  soon  as  we  perceive 
the  goody  in  any  case,  we  have  a  feeling  of  obliga 
tion  to  observe  it  as  the  rule  of  conduct,  and  to 
avoid  the  contrary  as  wrong  •  that  is,  each  man  has 
a  conscience.  Hence,  although  man  has  the  power 
to  do  wrong,  he  has  no  right  to  do  wrong;  but 
only  a  right  to  do  that  which  is  good.  Such,  and 
such  only,  is  the  true  subjective  right  of  self-con 
trol.  It  is  not  a  right  to  do  as  we  may  please, 
unless  we  shall  please  to  do  that  which,  in  itself, 
is  right ;  that  is,  the  good. 

II.  His  fall,  we  have  seen,  has  had  the  effect  to 
place  him  in  such  circumstances,  that  the  attributes 
of  his  lower  nature,  his  appetites,  propensities,  and 
passions,  often  have  such  ascendency  as  motives 
of  action,  that  he  is  always  liable  to  do  wrong. 
Many  reasons,  a  priori,  eould  be  given  for  this. 
The  mind  is  first  brought  into  contact  with  the 
outward  world  through  the  bodily  senses.  They 
come  first  into  play ;  and  hence  the  natural  sensi 
bilities  are  first  developed.  The  will,  in  the  form 
of  spontaneous  volition,  is  accustomed,  from  earliest 
life,  to  act  from  these  as  a  motive,  for  the  reason 


112  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

that  there  is  no  other  from  which  it  can  act.  The 
pure  intelligence,  the  percipient  of  the  good,  and 
the  corresponding  feelings  of  obligation,  unfold 
themselves  slowly ;  and  long  before  it  may  be  said 
that  the  mind  is  matured,  the  will  is  accustomed 
to  make  the  natural  sensibilities  the  motive  of 
spontaneous  volition.  Now  the  will  is,  like  all 
other  faculties  of  the  mind,  subject  to  the  great 
law  of  habit ;  and  if  not  checked,  restrained  accord 
ing  to  the  true  idea  of  government,  a  habit  of  sub 
mission  is  formed,  which,  if  not  early  dissolved,  be 
comes  a  confirmed  habit.  The  will,  instead  of  being 
the  governing  power  of  the  mind,  becomes,  in  truth, 
the  faculty  governed.  It  has  lost  the  power  of  self- 
control.  It  has  become  the  slave  of  passion — con 
firmed  in  the  habit  of  submission.  It  is  precisely 
at  this  point  of  mental  degradation  that  Paul 
declares  of  "vessels  of  wrath,"  those  who  have 
brought  themselves  into  this  state  by  their  own 
act,  that  "  they  are  fitted  to  destruction."  Now, 
in  view  of  these  facts  and  the  principles  already 
established,  what  are  the  rights  of  man  ? 

First.  In  the  state  of  infancy.  It  has  been 
proved  that  the  subjective  endowments  of  human 
ity,  and  whatever  is  necessary  to  their  existence 
and  operation,  are  the  natural  right  of  man.  That 
the  undeveloped  good  is  the  endowment  of  this 
form  of  humanity  will  not  be  disputed  :  hence 


OF    SLAVERY.  113 

whatever  is  necessary  to  its  existence  and  ope 
ration,  is  the  natural  right  of  infants.  But  it  is 
obvious  that  a  governing  power,  existing  some 
where,  is  indispensably  necessary  in  the  case  of 
the  child ;  that  is,  a  power  must  exist  sufficiently 
potent  to  control  the  spontaneous  volitions  of  the 
will,  or,  in  the  circumstances  of  its  position,  it  will 
probably  extinguish  its  own  liberty,  by  the  law 
of  habit.  Government,  then, — absolute  govern 
ment, — is  necessary  to  the  existence  and  operation 
of  the  endowment  of  humanity  in  the  state  of 
inkncy  ;  and  therefore  absolute  government  is  the 
natural  right  of  the  infant.  Hence  all  civil  govern 
ments  have  exercised  (so  far  as  the  will  and  phy 
sical  condition  are  concerned)  an  absolute  despotism 
over  the  child,  and  have  recognized  the  parent,  or 
some  one  appointed  in  the  place  of  the  parent,  as 
the  agent  of  its  functions  in  this  respect.  Not  to 
accord  to  the  infant  this  extreme  form  of  control, 
would  be  a  practical  denial  of  its  natural  rights. 
Therefore  this  extreme  form  of  despotism,  so  far 
from  being  a  curse,  is  the  natural  right  of  infants 
— the  good  to  which  they  are  entitled  by  nature. 
And  again,  the  civil  government  accords  to  the 
child  a  progressive  modification  of  this  form  of 
government  under  given  circumstances.  It  re 
quires  its  agent  to  relax  the  stringency  of  this 
control,  and  to  extend  a  privilege  of  self-control, 


114  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

in  the  ratio  in  which  the  pure  intelligence  and 
feelings  of  obligation  or  duty  are  practically  devel 
oped.  For  a  child  who  had  become,  to  a  certain 
extent,  a  subject  of  duty,  and  was  disposed  to  ful 
fil  this  duty,  but  was  kept,  per  force,  in  the  physi 
cal  condition  of  infancy  until  he  lost  the  use  of  his 
limbs,  would  be  considered  as  deprived  of  the  right 
of  self-control  to  that  extent,  and  thereby  cruelly 
treated.  The  agent  in  such  a  case  would  be 
severely  punished,  and  the  child  committed  to 
other  hands. 

Hence,  in  the  ratio  in  which  the  pure  intelligence 
is  unfolded,  and  feelings  of  obligation  arise,  or 
conscience  is  developed,  and  becomes  the  practical 
rule  of  action,  the  individual  acquires  the  right  of 
self-control,  and  only  in  that  ratio.  This  right 
may  ultimately  reach  to  all  things  in  themselves 
good — the  civil  government  always  holding  the 
authority  to  punish  departures  from  duty,  and 
thereby  always  abridging  men  of  the  moral  power 
to  do  wrong,  (because  it  never  could  be  their  right 
to  do  wrong,)  and  always  fortifying  them  in  the 
right  exercise  of  liberty  of  will,  by  furnishing 
motives,  addressed  to  their  intelligence  and  pas 
sions,  to  observe  the  right  and  to  avoid  the 
wrong  in  the  exercise  of  the  volitive  power. 
Therefore,  the  natural  right  of  man  is  the  right  to 
such  absolute  control  'by  others,  in  the  earlier 


OF    SLAVERY.  115 

periods  of  his  life,  as  that  his  will  may  retain  its 
self-acting  power  unimpaired,  as  his  mind  is  natur 
ally  unfolded  by  time  and  circumstances ;  and  to 
such  modification  of  this  absolute  control  in  after 
life,  as  may  afford  him  due  restraint  under  tempt 
ation  to  do  wrong,  and  proper  encouragement,  at 
all  times,  to  do  right. 

Second.   The  right  of  man  in  a  state  of  maturity. 

1.  The  government  should  accord  him  all  his 
natural  rights,  and  protect  him  in  the  exercise  of 
the  same.  That  is,  the  political  government  should 
cooperate  with  the  Divine  to  preserve  his  will  in 
its  normal  condition  as  a  self-acting  power,  and  to 
guarantee  to  him  the  exercise  of  this  power  of 
self-action  in  all  things  good.  The  man  who  is 
protected  in  the  enjoyment  of  this  inherent  liberty 
of  will,  is  a  free  man  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the 
word.  The  government  over  him  may  be  concen 
trated  in  the  hands  of  one  man,  or  it  may  be 
divided  among  an  aristocracy,  more  or  less  nume 
rous,  or  it  may  be  what  is  called  a  democracy,  but. 
this  does  not  of  itself  affect  the  fact  of  his  free 
dom.  If  the  government  secure  him  in  the  enjoy 
ment  of  these  rights,  and  of  all  which  necessarily 
attaches  to  them,  he  is  essentially  free.  The  kind 
of  government,  as  a  hereditary  monarchy,  or  a 
democratic  republic,  does  not,  of  itself,  determine 
the  actual  freedom  of  its  subjects.  History  fur- 


116  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

nishes  many  examples  of  government  in  which  the 
power  of  control  was  concentrated  in  the  hands  of 
but  one,  or  of  a  few  individuals,  which  afforded  its 
subjects  the  highest  amount  of  essential  liberty. 
To  this  day,  "  the  freedom  of  the  British  Constitu 
tion" — as  much  as  we  justly  prefer  our  own — is 
by  no  means  an  idle  boast.  It  is  a  great  mistake 
to  suppose  that  a  government  which  deposits  the 
sovereignty  among  the  great  mass  of  the  people, 
is  the  only  free  government.  We  are  constrained 
to  acknowledge  that  it  is  better  to  be  oppressed 
by  one,  or  by  a  few  tyrants,  than  by  a  multitude 
of  tyrants.  It  is  not  this  or  that  Jdnd  of  govern 
ment  that  makes  the  subject  essentially  free.  But 
it  is  the  fact  that  the  controlling  power,  whether 
wielded  by  one  or  by  many,  secures  each  man  in 
the  enjoyment  of  his  natural  rights — affords  him 
that  system  of  appliances  which  develops  and 
matures  the  self-acting  power  of  his  will — discour 
ages  all  abuse  of  this  power,  and  fully  protects 
him  in  the  proper  exercise  of  it  in  the  pursuit  of 
the  essential  good.  It  is  this  that  makes  him  free. 
We  prefer,  for  those  to  whom  it  is  applicable, 
a  democratic  republic ;  because  it  is  a  more  secure 
government,  and  less  liable  to  an  abuse  of  power ; 
not  because  it  is  necessarily  a  more  free  govern 
ment  than  any  other.  Another  form  of  govern 
ment  may  secure  equal  freedom  in  every  essential 


OF    SLAVERY.  117 

particular ;  and  this  form  may  be  as  oppressive  as 
any  other ;  and  whenever  it  is  so,  the  condition  of 
the  down-trodden  minority  is  far  more  hopeless 
than  is  that  of  the  oppressed  majority  under  some 
other  form  of  government.  Still,  in  certain  con 
ditions  of  the  people,  it  is  a  much  more  secure 
form  of  government.  The  sovereigns  of  a  state 
should  always  be  socially  equal,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  honest  as  well  as  intelligent.  Such  rulers 
will  not  be  oppressors.  If  the  sovereigns  of  a 
democracy  are  intelligent,  for  the  reason  that  but 
few  participate  directly  and  personally  in  the  ad 
ministration  of  government  and  the  spoils  of  office, 
they  have  but  few  inducements  to  corruption,  and 
are  more  likely  to  be  honest.  The  mass  of  the 
people,  though  often  wrong  in  opinion,  are  always 
right  in  sentiment — they  mean  to  do  right,  and 
they  desire  to  do  right.  If  they  do  err  in  a  given 
case,  they  may  usually  be  set  right,  for  they  have 
no  motive  to  stay  wrong.  Hence,  we  think  that 
when  the  condition  of  intelligence  is  fulfilled  in 
the  case  of  those  occupying  a  social  footing,  we 
may  expect  a  wiser  and  purer  government ;  whilst 
the  extent  to  which  they  may  participate  in  the 
affairs  of  government,  giving  it  a  firmer  hold  upon 
their  affections,  cannot  fail  to  make  it  a  more 
secure  government.  It  is  widely  different  in  the 
case  of  a  government  concentrated  in  the  hands  of 


* 

118  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

a  few.  The  sovereigns  are  at  the  same  time  the 
administrators  of  law.  They  share  not  only  the 
honors  of  sovereignty,  but  also  the  immediate  pro- 
.fits  of  sovereignty — the  spoils  of  office.  Tempta 
tions  to  abuse  power  are  always  present  and 
active.  Hence  we  find  that  such  governments  are 
more  frequently  oppressive.  Withal,  even  in 
cases  in  which  they  are  not,  (for  they  need  not 
be,)  for  the  reason  that  the  mass  of  the  people  do 
not  immediately  participate  in  the  affairs  of  gov 
ernment,  they  are  not  as  devoted  to  its  interests, 
and  hence  the  government  cannot  be  as  secure. 
For  these  reasons,  a  democratic  republic  is  called 
by  way  of  eminence  a  free  government;  but,  evi 
dently,  not  because  it  is  the  only  form  which 
secures  freedom  to  its  subjects.  Any  of  these 
forms  are  legitimate  when  they  are  so  adapted  to 
the  condition  of  the  people  as  to  secure  to  them 
the  highest  amount  of  freedom  of  which  that  con 
dition  will  admit. 

2.  The  government  should  secure  to  him  all  his 
acquired  rights,  or  the  rights  which  he  acquires 
by  the  proper  use  of  his  essential  rights.  Of 
these,  we  notice, 

1.  His  rights  of  social  equality  with  those  with 
whom  he  holds  common  interests,  pleasures,  bene 
fits,  happiness,  and  duties.  These  rights  usually 
vary  with  the  condition  of  different  individuals, 


OF    SLAVERY.  119 

or  different  classes  of  individuals.  It  wiH  not  be 
maintained  that  an  infant  or  idiot,  and  a  man  of 
rude  intellect  and  vulgar  habits,  have  interests  and 
duties  common  to  each  other,  ahd  common  to  per 
sons  in  a  different  condition,  in  any  such  sense  as 
would  entitle  them  all  to  social  equality.  Both 
their  mental  and  physical  condition  would  be  a  bar 
to  any  such  equality.  So  in  the  case  of  the 
sexes,  difference  in  physical  condition  is  a  bar, 
except  in  the  marriage  state.  So  also  certain 
races  of  men  are  by  their  physical  condition  barred 
from  social  equality,  in  many  respects,  with  those 
of  other  races.  Those  duties  required  by  one 
condition  in  order  to  attain  the  essential  good  are 
very  different  from  those  of  another  condition 
which  are  necessary  to  attain  the  same  object. 
But  the  privilege  of  social  equality  with  all  in  a 
similar  condition,  which  results  from  the  discharge 
of  the  duties  of  that  condition,  is  the  right  of 
every  one.  Some  will  require  positive  law  to 
secure  them ;  as  in  the  marriage  relation,  the 
social  as  well  as  other  rights  of  the  parties  must 
be  secured  by  law;  whilst  others  will  be  better 
secured  by  leaving  them  to  be  regulated  by  the 
conventional  usages  of  society — only  another  form 
of  government.  But  there  is  an  obvious  differ 
ence  in  the  social  rights  of  men  which  government 
is  bound  to  respect,  unless  it  would  arrest  the  pro- 


120  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

gress  of  civilization ;  because  it  is  an  inequality 
founded  in  that  difference  of  condition,  against 
which  no  government  can  provide,  nor  was  it 
intended  that  it  should  provide.  We  notice, 

2.  That  government  should  secure  to  him  all 
those  political  rights  to  which  he  is  entitled  by 
making  a  proper  use  of  his  essential  rights. 

We  need  not  specify  all  the  political  rights 
which  may  be  regarded  acquired  rights.  It  is 
sufficient  to  consider  this  topic  in  regard  to  the 
question  of  sovereignty.  We  say,  that  all  the 
members  of  a  given  society,  having  a  common  in 
terest  in  that  society,  are  entitled  to  share  the 
sovereignty  of  its  government  on  certain  conditions, 
and  on  no  other  conditions.  We  take  the  ground 
that  mere  humanity,  in  itself  considered,  does  not 
entitle  any  one  to  the  rights  of  political  sove 
reignty.  If  this  were  so,  we  should  be  bound  to 
place  females,  together  with  minors  of  both  sexes, 
and  the  inmates  of  State  prisons,  among  the  sove 
reigns  of  society.  They  are  all  perfect  specimens 
of  humanity.  Of  the  first  it  may  be  said,  they 
are  often  equal  in  intellect  with  the  other  sex,  and 
in  other  respects  are  generally  superior  specimens 
of  humanity.  These  all  have  an  interest  in  soci 
ety  common  to  all  other  members  of  it,  and  yet  it 
is  admitted  that  they  should  not  be  numbered 
among  the  sovereigns  of  the  land.  What  is  it. 


OF    SLAVERY.  121 

then,  that  entitles  a  man  to  the  right  of  political 
sovereignty  ?  First — He  should  have  reached 
that  point  in  mental  development  in  which  he  will 
have  a  capacity,  in  common  with  others,  to  under 
stand  and  appreciate  the  leading  principles  of 
government  and  their  applications.  Second — He 
should  have  reached  that  period  in  life  in  which 
there  is  usually  a  corresponding  development  of 
the  moral  sense — the  feeling  of  obligation  to  do 
right — which  affords  a  reasonable  guaranty  for  the 
faithful  application  of  his  knowledge  in  discharg 
ing  the  duties  of  sovereignty.  Third — He  should 
be  in  that  state  of  social  equality  which  gives  him 
a  common  interest,  a  common  happiness,  and  com 
mon  duties  as  a  citizen,  with  other  sovereigns, 
which  will  also  afford  a  necessary  guaranty  for 
the  faithful  performance  of  his  duties.  And, 
Fourth — He  should  be  in  that  physical  condition, 
also,  which  is  necessary  to  the  duties  of  so  respon 
sible  a  position,  under  all  ordinary  circumstances. 
If  one  or  more  of  these  conditions  exclude  a  whole 
sex,  together  with  all  minors,  idiots,  felons,  and 
foreigners,  they  at  the  same  time  limit  it  to  a  defi 
nite  class  of  males,  and  bar  all  others  from  any 
title  to  it.  No  sensible  man  would  admit  that 
the  power  of  sovereign  control  inherent  in  govern 
ment  could,  with  safety  to  the  only  legitimate 
object  of  government,  the  happiness  of  the  sub 
6 


122  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

jects,  be  deposited  with  any  other  class  of  men. 
But  those  who  fulfil  these  conditions  have  a  right 
to  rule.  They  have  acquired  it  by  the  perform 
ance  of  those  duties  which  have  elevated  them  to 
the  -  condition  of  being  qualified  for  sovereignty. 
It  should  not  be  withheld.  If  those  in  a  society 
qualified  for  sovereignty  be  numerous,  the  govern 
ment  should  take  the  popular  form — a  democratic 
republic.  But  if  those  qualified  to  rule  are  a 
limited  portion  of  the  whole  society,  some  other 
form  of  government  is  more  appropriate. 

But  our  subject  leads  us  to  notice : 

Third.  The  rights  of  man  in  the  savage  or  uncivil 
ized  state. 

No  savage  community  was  ever  known  to  rise 
unaided  to  a  state  of  civilization ;  and  every  ex 
ample  of  savage  society  furnishes  evidence  that  it 
is  a  state  into  which  they  have  fallen  by  the  ten 
dencies  of  depraved  nature.  They  are  instances 
in  which  the  government  originally  enjoyed — both 
human  and  Divine — has  failed  to  preserve  to  the 
individual  that  liberty  of  will  in  the  pursuit  of  the 
good  which  government  is  designed  to  secure. 
The  pure  intelligence  is  not  sufficiently  developed 
to  constitute  an  enlightened  conscience.  Dwelling 
apart  from  civilized  society,  the  absence  of  all  the 
artificial  wants  of  civilization  is  highly  favorable  to 
many  of  the  natural  virtues — such  as  hospitality 


OF    SLAVERY.  123 

to  strangers,  truth,  fidelity,  and  generosity  to  their 
friends ;  but  the  undeveloped  state  of  the  pure 
reason  leaves  the  moral  sense  in  a  state  of  so 
much  immaturity,  as  to  characterize  them  as  un 
faithful,  cruel,  and  revengeful  to  their  enemies. 
These  are  characteristics  which,  in  their  condition 
of  physical  maturity,  make  them  terrible  to  their 
neighbors. 

Now  the  question  is,  What  are  the  rights  of  such 
a  people  ?  It  is  useless  to  discuss  this  question  so 
far  as  it  relates  to  mere  savage  government ;  for 
in  this  view  it  is  a  question  of  no  interest.  But 
the  question,  What  rights  can  they  claim  of  a 
civilized  people  ?  is  the  one  with  which  we  have 
to  deal. 

They  certainly  have  a  natural  right  to  protec 
tion  under  given  circumstances,  and  freedom  from 
oppression  under  all  circumstances.  If  a  civilized 
people,  holding  a  balance  of  power  in  virtue  of 
superior  intelligence,  have  an  undisputed  right  to 
protect  themselves  from  the  cruelty  and  infidelity 
of  neighboring  savages,  still  it  will  be  admitted 
that  oppression  in  any  proper  sense  of  the  term 
would  be  an  invasion  of  their  natural  rights. 
They  have  a  right  to  be  left  in  the  enjoyment  of 
the  highest  amount  of  freedom  which  their  mental 
state  will  allow  them  to  use  legitimately.  And 
more  than  this,  their  natural  rights  claim  for  them 


124  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

reasonable  exertions  to  elevate  their  moral  condi 
tion.  Hence  the  noble  efforts  now  being  made  by 
the  Christian  people  of  this  country  to  evangelize 
the  savages  on  our  border,  and  the  no  less  com 
mendable  efforts  of  the  United  States  government 
to  favor  this  design,  by  an  annual  appropriation 
from  the  national  treasury.  All  this  is  only  ac 
cording  them  their  rights.  But  do  these  rights 
entitle  them  to  claim  social  equality  with  a  civil 
ized  people  ?  That  which  it  is  the  right  of  another 
to  claim  of  me,  it  is  my  duty  to  grant.  Is  it  then 
my  duty  to  grant  social  equality  to  any  or  to 
every  wandering  savage  that  may  chance  to  pass 
my  dwelling?  Should  I  not  only  extend  to  him 
the  rights  of  hospitality  due  to  a  wandering  savage 
— give  him  food  and  shelter  in  given  circumstances, 
and  treat  him  kindly  in  all  respects — but  extend 
to  him  true  social  equality,  such  as  it  is  my  duty 
to  do  to  other  men  in  certain  states  of  civilization  ! 
No  man — himself  not  a  savage — would  dare  affirm 
this  !  The  savage  has  no  right  to  claim  it.  The 
reason  is  obvious  on  the  principles  discussed. 
Certain  social  rights  arise  only  on  certain  condi 
tions  of  moral  development,  and  the  fulfilment  of 
the  duties  which  attach  to  that  state.  The  savage 
has  not  reached  this  condition ;  hence  has  not  ful 
filled  its  duties,  and  is  not  entitled  to  the  right  of 
social  equality  which  attaches  to  that  state.  For 


OF    SLAVERY.  125 

a  sensible  man  to  affirm  that  he  has  this  right  in 
virtue  of  his  mere  humanity,  would  be  simply 
ridiculous.  And  this  being  so,  it  follows,  a  for- 
tiori,  that  it  is  much  less  our  duty  to  allow  him  an 
equal  participation  in  the  sovereignty  of  the  State 
— allow  him  a  control  in  the  affairs  of  government 
— share  the  authority  to  regulate  our  relations, 
domestic  and  foreign ;  and  even  to  participate  in 
governing  our  families. 

The  man  who  should  gravely  propose  in  Con 
gress  to  annex  the  savage  tribes  of  our  border,  as 
sovereign  States  of  this  Union,  would,  by  all  right- 
minded  men,  be  regarded  as  insane.  No  one  of  the 
managers  of  looms,  spindles,  and  other  machinery, 
among  the  agrarian  portion  of  our  northern  com 
munity,  with  all  their  boasted  knowledge  of  the 
natural  rights  of  man,  and  their  readiness  to  ac 
cord  equal  rights  to  all  men,  and  to  protect  them 
in  asserting  those  rights,  have,  as  yet,  made  up  their 
minds  to  go  thus  far — although  we  may  be  at  a  loss 
to  account  for  it  that  they  so  far  falsify  their  prin 
ciples  as  not  to  do  so. 

Now,  as  it  is  not  our  duty  to  do  this  in  behalf 
of  a  neighboring  race  of  uncivilized  people,  for  the 
reason  that  they  have  no  right  to  it,  how  does 
the  question  stand  in  regard  to  a  numerous  class 
of  such  persons,  spread  through  a  definite  section 
of  our  country  ?  Does  this  change  of  position  and 


126  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

contact  with  civilization  confer  on  them  higher 
rights  than  it  has  already  been  admitted  belong 
to  them  in  a  separate  state  in  virtue  of  their 
humanity  ?  Is  it  our  duty  to  accord  to  them 
equality  of  political  rights  ?  and  for  the  reason 
that  they  are  diffused  through  the  mass  of  society  ? 
Can  this  position  be  maintained?  On  the  con 
trary,  the  change  of  position,  and  the  service  which 
in  that  position  they  render  to  the  cause  of  civil 
ization,  which  is  assumed  to  acquire  for  them  a 
right  that  does  not  belong  to  their  class  of  per 
sons  in  a  separate  position,  so  far  from  affording 
a  vindication  of  this  doctrine,  furnishes  a  still 
stronger  reason  against  it.  They  are  not  only 
uncivilized,  but  are  now  in  a  position  to  exert  an 
evil  influence,  which  in  a  separate  state  they  could 
not  do,  although  they  might  dwell  upon  our  bor 
der.  In  a  separate  state,  the  artificial  wants  of 
civilized  life  are  unknown  to  them.  The  great 
sources  of  temptation  to  do  wrong  by  invading  the 
rights  of  neighbors,  is  not  supplied  to  them  by 
their  position.  But  when  in  immediate  contact 
with  civilization,  a  great  many  of  these  artificial 
wants  are  learned  by  them,  and  felt  to  be  objects 
of  desire.  These  desires,  by  a  fixed  law  of  the 
human  mind,  must  be  a  constant  source  of  tempta 
tion — they  clamor  for  gratification.  If  the  indul 
gence  should  not  be  restrained,  either  by  a  system 


OP    SLAVERY.  127 

of  laws  which  reached  the  case,  or  by  the  motives 
which  a  state  of  civilization  supplies,  they  would 
inevitably  result  in  a  disregard  of  the  rights  of 
property,  and  a  general  depravation  of  morals. 
They  are  without  the  latter,  for  they  are  uncivil 
ized.  Hence  the  demands  of  their  position  must 
be  met  by  laws  appropriate  to  an  uncivilized 
people.  The  laws  appropriate  to  a  state  of  civil 
ization,  cooperating  as  they  do  with  the  motives 
supplied  by  that  state,  are  not  more  than  equal  to 
the  task  of  restraining  the  passions  of  civilized 
men.  To  rely  upon  them  in  the  case  of  uncivilized 
men  would  be  the  grossest  folly.  Hence  if  it  were 
not  our  duty  to  share  our  political  rights  with 
such  a  people,  dwelling  upon  our  border,  in  a 
separate  state,  for  a  much  stronger  reason  it  is 
not  our  duty  to  do  this  for  those  dwelling  in  our 
midst.  If  it  is  not  our  duty  to  do  it,  it  cannot  be 
their  right  to  claim  it ;  for  rights  and  duties  are 
always  reciprocal.  But,  on  the  contrary,  for  the 
same  general  reasons  by  which  it  becomes  the  duty 
of  a  civilized  state  to  place  all  its  minors  under  the 
despotism  of  parental  control,  as  before  defined,  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  state  to  place  an  uncivilized  race 
which  may  chance  to  dwell  within  its  borders, 
under  a  similar  form  of  government.  This  despot 
ism  need  not  be  oppressive  in  the  one  case  any 
more  than  in  the  other.  It  is  the  proud  boast  of 


128  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

all  our  native  citizens  that  they  have  always  lived 
under  a  free  government ;  and  yet  they  were 
brought  up  to  the  age  of  twenty- one  under  a  pure 
despotism.  But  this  does  not  deprive  them  of 
their  right  to  boast.  True,  the  government  con 
ferred  almost  absolute  control  upon  the  parent,  or 
guardian,  or  master  of  the  apprentice !  These 
might  have  oppressed  them.  But  the  government, 
which  stood  ready  to  vindicate  their  rights,  did 
not  do  it.  The  government,  in  what  it  did,  only 
accorded  them  their  natural  rights,  as  we  have 
seen — provided  to  confer  on  them  the  highest 
amount  of  freedom  of  which  their  condition  would 
admit.  It  was  to  them  essentially  a  free  govern 
ment,  though  in  one  of  the  forms  of  despotism. 
So  in  that  form  of  despotism  appropriate  to  a  race 
of  uncivilized  people  dwelling  in  the  midst  of  a 
civilized  people,  if  adapted  to  their  condition,  or 
securing  to  them  (as  in  the  case  of  minors)  their 
natural  rights,  it  is,  for  them,  and  to  them,  a  free 
government.  So  far  from  being  a  curse,  as  many 
of  our  philosophers  teach,  it  is  a  blessing,  which 
their  essential  rights  entitle  them  to  claim.  Any 
other  form  of  government  would  be,  in  their  case,  as 
well  as  in  that  of  minors,  a  practical  denial  of  their 
rights ;  because  it  would  result  in  the  annihilation 
of  their  essential  rights ;  that  is,  the  enslavement 
of  their  wills  to  the  basest  passions  of  fallen  nature. 


OF    SLAVERY.  129 

Hence,  we  find  that  government,  both  human 
and  Divine,  is  a  special  necessity  of  man's  fallen 
condition,  and  coeval  with  the  history  of  the  race  : 
that  its  legitimate  object  is  to  preserve  him  from 
that  annihilation  of  his  essential  liberty  of  will 
which  would  inevitably  follow  if  there  were  no 
government,  and  to  secure  him  in  the  enjoyment 
of  the  highest  amount  of  this  liberty  which  his 
condition  will  allow  :  that  to  do  this,  various  forms 
of  civil  government  are  admissible ;  and  that  the 
one  best  adapted  to  the  condition  of  the  people  is 
the  one  that  should  be  applied,  ^ind  is  the  only 
strictly  free  government  for  the  people  to  whom  it 
is  appropriate.  A  democracy  applied  to  minors 
or  savages,  in  the  midst  of  a  civilized  people, 
would  be  the  most  grinding  of  all  oppressions. 
We  have  seen  that  the  means  appropriate  to  gov 
ernment  are  suitable  penalties  addressed  to  our 
passions  of  hope  and  fear  :  that  the  only  right 
which  a  man  has  to  exercise  his  inherent  liberty 
— that  is,  the  only  right  he  has  of  self-control— is 
the  authority  to  do  that  which,  in  itself,  is  right 
— not  a  right  to  do  wrong:  that  the  exclusive 
authority  of  government  is  to  restrain  man  from 
doing  wrong,  and  to  protect  and  encourage  him  in 
doing  right — restrain  his  power  to  do  wrong,  not 
his  power  to  do  right — this  it  seeks  to  strengthen. 
We  have  seen  that  the  rights  of  man  in  a  state  of 
6* 


130  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

minority^ — and  the  same  of  uncivilized  men  dwell 
ing  in  a  community  of  the  civilized — are  to  the 
benefits  of  an  absolute  form  of  government ;  any 
other  would  be  only  a  system  of  ruinous  oppres 
sion  to  them :  that  at  his  maturity  as  a  civilized 
man,  he  should  be  protected  in  the  exercise  of  all 
the  rights  which  naturally  belong  to  a  state  of 
maturity,  and  also  the  enjoyment  of  all  those 
rights  which  he  has  acquired  by  availing  himself 
of  the  privileges  afforded  by  his  condition.  Of 
his  acquired  rights,  we  see  that  on  certain  con 
ditions  he  is  entitled  to  social  equality ;  and  that 
on  certain  further  conditions,  he  is  entitled  to  the 
right  of  political  sovereignty. 

Now,  we  ask,  in  what  sense  can  it  be  said  that 
legitimate  government  is  a  concession  of  some 
rights,  in  order  to  secure  others  ?  Certainly,  in 
no  good  sense,  seeing  it  only  limits  his  power  to 
do  wrong,  by  laying  him  under  suitable  disabilities, 
and  that  it  does  this  in  order  to  secure  both  the 
power  and  the  privilege  of  doing  right.  But  by 
falsely  assuming  that  government  is  a  concession 
of  rights,  and  that  the  government  in  which  every 
citizen  does  not  make  a  voluntary  concession  of 
the  rights  exercised  by  government  is  a  cruel  op 
pression,  men  fall  upon  conclusions  which,  when 
carried  out,  (and  principles  will  tend  to  work  out 
their  results,)  lead  to  agrarianism :  that  is,  the 


OF    SLAVERY.  131 

destruction  of  all  rights,  by  the  annihilation  of 
all  civilization. 

And  again  we  ask,  How  does  it  follow  that  the 
domestic  slavery  of  the  negro  in  America  is  an 
abridgment  of  his  inalienable  rights?  Certainly 
not  from  the  fact  that  he  is  placed  under  an 
absolute  form  of  control,  for  we  have  seen  that,  in 
certain  conditions  of  humanity,  that  is  the  only 
form  of  government  that  will  secure  any  freedom 
at  all :  as  in  the  case  of  all  minors,  and  the  case 
of  an  uncivilized  race  that  may  chance  to  be  dif 
fused  among  the  mass  of  a  civilized  people.  If, 
then,  his  government  be  an  oppression  at  all,  it  is 
because  his  state  of  civilization,  and  the  relative 
circumstances  of  his  condition,  have  acquired  for 
him  the  rights  of  social  equality  and  the  rights  of 
political  sovereignty.  These  are  questions  of  fact 
that  will  be  considered  in  their  proper  place. 


132  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 


LECTURE    VI. 

THE  ABSTRACT  PRINCIPLE  OF  SLAVERY  DISCUSSED  ON 
SCRIPTURE  GROUNDS,  AND  MISREPRESENTATIONS  OF 
THE  PRINCIPLE  EXAMINED. 

The  true  subjective  right  of  self-control  defined  according  to 
the  Scriptures — The  abstract  principle  of  slavery  sanctioned 
by  the  Scriptures — The  Roman  government — Dr.  Wayland's 
Scripture  argument  examined  and  refuted — The  positions  of 
Dr.  Channing  and  Prof.  Whewell  examined  and  refuted. 

THE  inquiry,  if  the  institution  of  domestic  sla 
very  existing  amongst  us  agrees  in  its  details  with 
the  teachings  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  is  reserved 
for  a  future  lecture.  We  now  inquire  how  far  it 
agrees  with  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  its  great  funda 
mental  principles  ? — the  abstract  principles  which, 
thus  far,  have  been  shown  to  be  right. 

We,  of  course,  acknowledge  the  full  authority 
of  the  Scriptures.  Although  not  a  formal  philo 
sophical  treatise,  the  Bible  embodies  no  other  than 
the  profoundest  principles  both  of  mental  and 
moral  science ;  and  all  its  teachings  are  in  acc~/rd- 


OF    SLAVERY.  133 

ance  with  them.  "  To  the  law,"  then,  "  and  to 
the  testimony."  Do  they  sanction  the  principles 
I  have  sought  to  establish  ?  Do  they  accord  to 
man  any  other  subjective  right  of  self-control  than 
simply  the  right  to  do  that  which  in  itself  is  rigid 
— that  is,  good  ?  True,  they  assume  that  he  has 
the  power  to  do  wrong,  but  at  the  same  time  they 
deny  to  him  all  right  to  do  wrong.  All  those 
scriptures  which  forbid  his  doing  wrong,  and  en 
join  it  upon  him  to  do  right,  under  severe  penal 
ties  for  disobedience,  are  in  proof.  They  are  too 
numerous  and  familiar  to  require  that  I  quote 
them.  They  all  assume  that  he  has  power  to  do 
either  right  or  wrong,  but  only  a  right  to  do  that 
which  is  right.  Whoever,  then,  sets  up  a  right  to 
do  a  thing,  and  can  give  no  better  reason  for  it 
than  that  he  has  power  to  do  it  in  virtue  of  his 
humanity,  and  that  therefore  others  should  not 
interpose  obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  doing  it,  on 
peril  of  abridging  him  of  a  natural  right,  assumes 
far  more  than  the  Scriptures  allow  him ;  nay,  he 
assumes  that  which  is  forbidden  him  in  Holy 
Scripture,  no  less  than  in  reason  and  common 
sense ;  and  if  allowed  to  exercise  such  lawless 
power,  under  the  plea  of  natural  right,  he  could 
not  fail  to  put  an  end  to  all  law,  and  to  precipi 
tate  society  into  a  state  of  anarchy.  Therefore, 
the  government  which  places  minors,  aliens,  and 


134  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

citizens,  who  at  the  same  time  allow  themselves 
to  be  subjects  of  a  foreign  prince,  together 
with  uncivilized  persons,  in  circumstances  in  which 
they  cannot,  or  are  not  likely,  to  injure  their 
neighbors,  or  to  injure  society,  does  not,  for  that 
reason,  deprive  them  of  a  natural  right,  unless  it 
could  be  shown  that  they  have  a  natural  right  to 
do  the  very  thing  which  the  Scriptures  declare 
they  have  no  right  to  do,  that  is,  to  injure  their 
neighbors  I  It  further  follows,  that  the  right  to 
do  an  act  which  involves  accountability,  is  the 
right  to  do  that  which,  in  itself,  is  right;  or,  in 
other  words,  the  only  natural  right  of  self-control 
is  the  right  to  do  that  which  is  good.  Hence, 
those  who  claim  for  any  class  of  society  a  right  to 
political  sovereignty,  should  be  prepared  to  show 
that  the  essential  good  requires  that  such  privi 
lege  be  accorded  them,  or  they  fail  to  establish 
their  right,  for  the  reason  that  no  right  can  ever 
be  justly  acquired  which  does  not  coincide  with 
the  natural  right  to  do  good. 

Again,  we  have  shown  that  the  abstract  principle 
of  slavery  is  control  by  the  will  of  another,  with 
its  correlatives :  that  this  is  an  essential  element 
of  all  government;  for  a  government  which  did 
not  exercise  the  right  to  control  men,  even  against 
their  wills,  under  given  circumstances,  would  be 
no  government  at  all.  Do  these  views  accord 


OF    SLAVEEY.  135 

with  the  teachings  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ?  That 
control  is  an  essential  idea  of  government,  is  an 
intuitive  perception,  and  needs  no  proof.  The 
question  then  resolves  itself  into  this :  Do  the 
Scriptures  sanction  government?  That  the  Bible 
itself  is  only  a  system  of  government,  will  not  be 
disputed.  It  forbids  and  commands,  and  requires 
all  men  to  conform  their  volitions  to  its  require 
ments,  as  to  that  which  is  in  itself  good.  More 
over,  it  sanctions  civil  government  in  the  most 
express  terms :  "  Let  every  soul  be  subject  unto 
the  higher  powers.  For  there  is  no  power  but  of 
God :  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God. 
Whosoever,  therefore,  resisteth  the  power,"  that 
is,  the  authority  of  government,  "resisteth  the 
ordinance  of  God ;  and  they  that  resist  shall 
receive  to  themselves  damnation,"  etc.  (Rom. 
xiii.  1-7.  See  A.  Clarke's  notes.)  This  was  said 
to  the  Roman  Christians,  and  was  an  injunction  to 
obey  Csesar's  government.  In  that  government, 
it  is  well  known,  the  slavery  element  greatly 
predominated :  but  little  room  was  left  for  the 
exercise  of  self-control ;  political  sovereignty  being 
denied  to  the  people.  In  declaring  government, 
even  in  this  extreme  form  of  controlling  the  wills 
of  men,  to  be  his  appointment,  God  establishes  the 
principle,  as  in  itself  right.  Dr.  Wayland,  how 
ever,  (see  article,  Modes  in  which  Personal  Lib- 


136  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

erty  may  be  violated,)  affirms,  "  that  the  gospel  is 
diametrically  opposed  to  the  principle  of  slavery." 
The  moral  precepts  of  the  Bible,  which  he  as 
sumes  to  be  diametrically  opposed  to  the  principle 
of  slavery,  are,  (as  quoted  by  himself,)  "  Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself ;  and  all  things 
whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you, 
do  ye  even  so  unto  them."  He  says  that,  "were 
this  precept  obeyed,  it  is  manifest  that  slavery 
could  not  in  fact  exist  for  a  single  instant.  The 
principle  of  the  precept  is  absolutely  subversive 
of  the  principle  of  slavery."  That  the  gospel 
should, "  nevertheless,  acknowledge  slaveholders 
(for  neither  the  Jewish  nor  the  Roman  law  re 
quired  any  citizen  to  hold  slaves)  as  " believers" 
and  "worthy  of  all  honor"  and  require  of  the 
Christian  slaves  held  by  them  to  acknowledge 
them  as  brethren,  that  is,  good  men,  and  accord 
them  all  honor,  is  evidently  a  troublesome  question 
to  the  Doctor.  There  is  no  room  for  surprise. 
The  second  scripture  quoted,  it  is  allowed,  inter 
prets  the  first.  In  what  sense  then  are  we  to 
understand  the  duty  inculcated  in  the  second? 
There  are  only  two  senses  in  which  the  form  of 
the  expression  will  allow  us  to  evolve  any  signifi 
cance  whatever.  The  first  is,  Do  unto  another 
whatsoever  you  would  have  him  to  do  unto  you, 
if  you  were  in  his  situation ;  and  the  second  is, 


OF    SLAVERY.  137 

Do  unto  another  whatsoever  you  would  have  a 
right  to  require  another  to  do  unto  you,  if  you 
were  in  his  circumstances. 

Now  if  we  could  suppose  that  the  Saviour  in 
tended  his  language  to  be  understood  in  the  first 
sense,  it  will  not  perhaps  be  disputed  that  it 
is  our  duty  to  abolish  domestic  slavery,  for  we 
should,  no  doubt,  desire  to  be  released,  if  we  were 
in  a  state  of  domestic  slavery.  But,  unfortunately 
for  the  argument,  this  interpretation  would  not 
stop  at  the  abolition  of  domestic  slavery  in  the 
case  of  the  African.  It  would  reach  to  the  domes 
tic  slavery  of  the  child  also.  There  is  scarcely  a 
wayward  lad  in  Christendom  who  could  not  justly 
claim  release  from  parental  restraint  on  the  same 
principle  !  Nay,  more,  the  criminal  at  the  bar  of 
civil  justice,  the  inmates  of  State  prisons,  and  the 
poor  man  in  his  hovel,  would  all  claim  release ! 
And  as  that  which  is  duty  in  others,  in  such  cases, 
is  a  right  in  them,  not  to  grant  them  release  would 
certainly  be  a  denial  of  their  just  rights  !  Is  this 
the  sense  in  which  Dr.-  Way  land  would  have  us 
understand  the  Saviour  of  mankind?  Certain  it 
is,  that  this  is  the  only  sense  in  which  his  words 
can  be  understood  so  as  to  involve  the  necessary 
abolition  of  slavery !  We  cheerfully  acquit  Dr. 
W.  from  the  purpose  to  teach  any  such  agrarian 
folly.  Still,  we  can  see  no  good  reason  why  one 


138  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

so  eminent,  as  a  Christian  and  a  scholar,  should 
permit  even  an  early  prejudice  as  to  a  practical  ques 
tion,  about  which  he  allows  that  he  is  uninformed, 
to  betray  him  into  such  views  of  a  plain  principle 
as  logically  involve  him  in  the  grossest  absurdities. 

That  the  second  sense  given  is  the  proper  one 
in  which  to  understand  the  Saviour's  doctrine  can 
admit  of  no  dispute.  What  we  should  have  a 
right  to  claim,  if  we  were  in  the  circumstances  of 
a  slave,  is  precisely  that  which  we  are  to  accord 
to  such  slave,  according  to  the  precept  of  the 
Saviour.  If  we  should  have  a  right  to  claim  poli 
tical  sovereignty,  in  those  circumstances,  we  are 
bound  to  allow  them  such  sovereignty,  that  is, 
release  them  from  slavery.  This  directly  involves 
the  question,  Whether  they  are  fitted  for  that 
self-government  which  is  involved  in  such  sover 
eignty  ?  That  they  are  not  so  in  virtue  of  their 
humanity  merely,  we  have  proved ;  and  whether 
they  are  so  or  not,  by  acquirement,  is  a  practical 
question  which  Dr.  Way  land  allows  that  he  is  not 
competent  to  decide.  This  question  will  be  met 
in  another  place.  It  is  sufficient  here  to  state, 
that  the  scripture  so  confidently  relied  on  as  re 
pudiating  the  principle  of  slavery,  is  found  not  to 
reach  the  question  of  the  principle  at  all,  and, 
therefore,  is  wholly  misapplied. 

The  patriarchal  form  of  government,  which  ex- 


OF    SLAVERY.  139 

isted  before  the  theocracy  of  the  Jews,  constituted 
the  patriarch  (he  being  the  head  of  the  family)  the 
owner  of  slaves.  Abraham,  Lot,  and  others,  held 
them  in  large  numbers.  These  men  enjoyed  the 
unqualified  approbation  of  Jehovah,  and  in  their 
character  of  slaveholders,  no  less  than  in  many 
other  respects.  According  to  Dr.  W.,  they  en 
joyed  the  Divine  approbation  in  the  practice  of 
iniquity ;  for  he  says,  the  Bible  condemns  both 
the  principle  and  the  practice  of  slavery  ! 

It  is  evident  that  the  Jews  brought  slaves  with 
them  from  Egypt ;  for  the  terms  of  the  Decalogue 
not  only  imply  that  they  were  familiar  with 
domestic  slavery,  but  also  that  it  was,  at  that 
time,  an  existing  practice  among  them.  But  more 
than  this,  the  Decalogue  is  strictly  the  constitu 
tion  which  Jehovah  himself  gave  to  the  Jewish 
nation.  Now  to  assume  that  he  provided  in  this 
constitution  to  protect  in  all  time  to  come  (for  it 
is  allowed  to  embody  immutable  principles)  a  rela 
tion  which  was,  in  itself,  an  iniquity,  is  more  than 
a  mere  absurdity — it  is  profanity.  And  it  is  cer 
tain  that  the  tenth  article  of  this  constitution  pro 
vides  to  protect  the  right  of  property  in  slaves : 
"Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor  s  MAN-SERVANT, 
nor  his  MAID-SERVANT,  nor  any  thing  that  is  thy 
neighbor  s" 

The  Saviour  has  recognized  this  law,  as  it  was 


140  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

originally  designed  to  be,  of  universal  obligation 
and  force :  "Think  not  thai  I  am  come  to  destroy 
the  law  or  the  prophets :  I  am  not  come  to  destroy, 
but  to  fulfil"  Matt.  v.  IT. 

In  accordance  with  this  fundamental  law  of  the 
nation,  God  proceeded  to  provide  in  their  civil  in 
stitutions  for  the  operation  of  a  regular  system  of. 
domestic  slavery.  Under  these  institutions,  a 
Hebrew  might  lose  his  liberty  and  become  a 
domestic  slave,  in  six  different  ways.  (See  A. 
Clarke,  on  Ex.  xxi.) 

1.  In  extreme  poverty,  he  might  sell  his  liberty. 
Lev.  xxv.  39  :  "If  thy  brother  be  waxed  poor  and 
be  sold  unto  thee" 

2.  A  father  might  sell  his  child.     Ex.  xxi.  7  : 
"If  a  man  sell  his  daughter  to  be  a  maid-servant" 

3.  Insolvent  debtors  became  the  slaves  of  their 
creditors.     2  Kings  iv.  1  :  "My  husband  is  dead, 
and  the  creditor  is  come  to  taJce  unto  him  my  two 
sons  to  be  bondsmen"     Also,  Matt,  xviii.  25. 

4.  A  thief,  if  he  had  not  money  to  pay  the  fine 
laid  on  him  by  the  law,  was  to  be  sold  for  his 
profit  whom  he  had  robbed.     Ex.  xxii.  3  :  "If  he 
have  nothing,  then  he  shall  be  sold  for  the  theft" 

5.  A  Hebrew  was  liable  to  be  taken  in  war,  and 
sold  for  a  slave.     2  Chron.  xii.  8. 

6.  A  Hebrew  slave  who  had  been   ransomed 
from   a    Gentile   by  a   Hebrew,    might   be    sold 


OF    SLAVERY.  141 

by  him  who  ransomed  him  to  one  of  his  own 
nation. 

All  who  became  slaves  under  this  system  were 
emancipated  in  the  seventh  year,  except  those 
who  should  refuse  to  accept  liberty.  Ex.  xxi.  2-6. 
They  were  emancipated  in  the  year  of  jubilee. 

But  then,  the  law  further  provided  for  domestic 
slaves  in  perpetuity. 

"  Both  thy  bondmen  and  thy  bondmaids  which 
thou  shalt  have,  shall  be  of  the  heathen  that  are 
round  about  you :  of  them  shall  ye  buy  bondmen 
and  bondmaids.  Moreover,  of  the  children  of  the 
strangers  that  do  sojourn  among  you,  of  them 
shall  ye  buy,  and  of  their  families  that  are  with 
you,  which  they  begat  in  your  land;  and  they 
shall  be  your  possession ;  and  ye  shall  take  them 
as  an  inheritance  for  your  children  after  you,  to 
inherit  them  for  a  possession  :  they  shall  be  your 
bondmen  for  ever;  but  over  your  brethren,  the 
children  of  Israel,  ye  shall  not  rule  over  one 
another  with  rigor."  Lev.  xxv.  44-46. 

The  attempts  which  are  sometimes  made  to 
prove  that  dovhog,  of  the  Septuagint,  and  servus, 
of  the  Vulgate  version,  translated  indifferently 
servant  or  slave,  means  only  a  hired  servant,  need 
only  to  be  mentioned  to  be  refuted.  That  these 
terms  defined  an  actual  state  of  slavery  among 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  no  one  acquainted  with 


142  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

the  facts  will  deny.  But  whatever  might  be  their 
original  meaning,  they  are  to  be  understood,  as 
Bible  terms,  in  the  sense  of  the  original  Hebrew, 
which  they  are  employed  to  express.  Now, 
nothing  is  more  certain  than  this,  that  the  Hebrew 
Bible  (and  the  same  is  true  of  the  English  trans 
lation)  speaks  of  servants,  hired  servants,  and  bond 
servants.  The  term  servant  is  the  generic  form, 
and  evidently  means,  a  person  who  is  controlled 
by  the  will  of  another  :  hired  servant  is  one  who 
serves  in  that  way  by  contract  for  a  definite 
period ;  whilst  bond  servant  is  one  who  has  either 
contracted  to  do  so  through  his  whole  life,  or  who, 
by  the  usages  of  war,  or  by  inheritance,  or  by 
purchase  from  another,  was  so  bound  to  service — 
(such  as  Paul  calls  a  "  servant  under  the  yoke." 
2  Tim.  vi.  1.)  These  different  relations  are  dis 
tinctly  marked  by  the  use  of  these  terms  in  the 
Bible,  and  especially  the  meaning  of  BOND  SERV 
ANT,  in  distinction  from  a  HIRED  SERVANT  :  "If  thy 
brother  that  dwelleth  by  thee  he  waxen  poor,  and  be 
sold  unto  thee,  thou  shalt  not  compel  him  to  serve  as 
a  BOND  SERVANT,  but  as  a  HIRED  SERVANT,  and  as  a 
sojourner,  shall  he  be"  Lev.  xxv.  39,  40. 

Thus  we  find  that  the  Jewish  constitution  pro 
vided  to  protect  the  right  of  property  in  servants 
or  slaves  in  the  generic  sense  :  that  is,  whether  in 
the  one  form  or  the  other ;  and  that  He  who  gave 


OP    SLAVERY.  143 

them  their  civil  institutions,  also  provided  under 
their  constitution  for  the  organization  of  a  regular 
system  of  domestic  slavery,  in  two  distinct  forms : 
the  one,  the  enslavement,  in  the  true  generic  sense, 
of  Hebrews  in  given  circumstances,  for  a  definite 
period ;  and  the  other,  the  enslavement,  in  the 
same  sense,  of  the  neighboring  heathen,  in  per 
petuity. 

Such  was  the  legal  origin  of  domestic  slavery 
among;  the  Jews.     During  all  the  calamities  that 

O  O 

have  befallen  that  people,  this  constitution  and 
these  laws  have  known  neither  repeal  nor  modifi 
cation.  At  no  period  of  their  history  were  they 
without  domestic  slaves;  and  when  the  Saviour 
dwelt  among  them,  the  whole  land  was  filled  with 
such  slaves.  No  State  in  this  Union  can  with 
more  propriety  be  regarded  a  slaveholding  com 
munity,  than  was  that  of  the  Jewish  people  in 
the  days  of  the  Saviour.  In  every  congregation 
which  he  addressed,  bond  slaves  may  have  min 
gled.  The  hospitalities  of  every  family  of  which 
he  partook,  were  probably  ministered  to  him, 
more  or  less,  by  domestic  slaves.  And  in  all  this 
time,  and  under  all  these  circumstances,  not  a 
word  is  known  to  have  escaped  him,  either  in 
public  or  in  private,  declaring  the  relation  of  mas 
ter  and  slave  to  be  sinful !  But,  on  the  contrary, 
Paul's  denunciation — 1  Tim.  vi.  3 — of  the  teach- 


144  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

ers  of  abolition  doctrines,  that  they  "consent  not 
to  wholesome  words,  even  the  words  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ"  is  sufficient  reason  to  believe  that 
he  was  always  understood  to  approve  of  the  rela 
tion,  and  to  condemn  in  express  terms  all  attempts 
to  abolish  it  as  a  duty  of  the  religion  which  he 
taught.  And  certain  it  is,  that  this  relation  is 
made  the  subject  of  some  of  his  most  eloquent 
allusions,  and  the  basis  of  some  of  his  most  in 
structive  parables  :  "  One  is  your  Master,  even 
Christ,"  Matt,  xxiii.  10  :  "  Good  Master,  what 
shall  I  do?"  Mark  x.  17:  "No  man  can  serve 
two  masters,"  Matt.  vi.  24 — are  'specimens  of 
the  former ;  whilst  the  parable,  Matt.  xiii.  24-28, 
"And  the  servants  said,  Wilt  thou  that  we  go  and 
gather  them  up  ?" — of  the  vineyard,  Matt.  xxi. ;  of 
the  talents,  Matt.  xxv. ;  and  others  of  a  similar 
nature,  are  striking  examples  of  the  latter.  And 
yet,  young  gentlemen,  the  author  of  your  text 
says,  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible,  and  especially  the 
teachings  of  the  Saviour,  are  "  diametrically  op 
posed  to  both  the  principle  and  the  practice  of 
domestic  slavery."  If  this  be  true,  it  is  really 
passing  strange  that  Jehovah  himself  should  pro 
vide,  in  the  organic  law  of  the  Jewish  common 
wealth,  for  the  working  of  a  system  of  domestic 
slavery,  and,  by  a  series  of  laws  drawn  up 
under  this  constitution,  set  such  a  system  in 


*-f 

actual  operation ;  and  that  the  Saviour  of  man 
kind  should  also  give,  according  to  every  legiti 
mate  interpretation  that  can  be  put,  either  upon 
his  language  or  his  conduct,  his  unqualified  appro 
bation  to  that  which  was  so  flatly  opposed  to  all 
his  doctrines  !  It  is  saying  but  little  of  all  this  to 
affirm  that  it  is  grossly  absurd !  It  can  appeal 
to  no  doctrine  that  we  are  aware  of  for  its  defence, 
unless  it  be  the  kindred  absurdity  that  the  will  of 
God  is  not  the  rule  of  right,  in  this  sense,  that  it 
always  conforms  to  that  which,  in  itself,  is  right, 
i.  e.,  good ;  but  that  it  is  the  rule  of  right  in  this 
other  sense,  that  it  is  absolutely,  in  itself,  the  only 
rule  of  right ;  and  that,  in  the  case  under  consid 
eration,  domestic  slavery  was  right  for  the  Jews, 
because  God  so  willed  it,  but  the  same  thing  in 
principle,  and  under  similar  circumstances,  would  (  . 
be  wrong  for  any  other  people,  because  in  regard 
to  them  God  had  willed  differently :  thus  assign 
ing  to  Deity  the  power  to  make  the  wrong  th&  :J; 
right,  and  the  right  the  wrong!  We  regret  tjB^;.' 
know  that  this  absurd  view  of  the  Divine  volitions 
has  found  its  way  beyond  the  pages  of  Dr.  Paley. 
It  is  countenanced  by  some  writers  of  eminent 
distinction  in  theology.  But  to  give  it  a  definite 
application  in  any  case,  is  all  that  is  required  for 
its  entire  refutation.  We  rely  with  confidence  on 
the  conclusion  that  what  God  thus  provided  for  in 

j*Jp3  ^'-ji^r*.*      % 

^';<^:  r^.£#y,.r^s.mjy. I:**.*; 

:"•:;•;• v*  • ;:  A-  v '.•.:-• 


S-*. 
'  ^:^"v^^\7<^-;/yi  -v^r 

146  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE/^,,; 

the  Jewish  constitution,  was  right  in  principle  in 
itself,  and  that,  under  the  circumstances  of  the 
Jewish  people,  it  was  right  in  practice. 

Among  the  strange,  if  not  wholly  unaccount 
able,  misconceptions,  if  not  gross  misrepresenta 
tions,  of  the  fundamental  ideas  of  domestic  slavery, 
we  may  place  those  of  Dr.  Channing  and  Prof. 
Whewell.  The  latter,  in  his  "  Elements  of  Mo 
rality,"  states  that  "  slavery  converts  a  person  into 
a  thing — a  subject  merely  passive,  without  any  of 
the  recognized  attributes  of  human  nature."  "A 
slave,"  he  further  says,  "in  the  eye  of  the  law 
which  stamps  him  with  that  character,  is  not  ac 
knowledged  as  a  man.  He  is  reduced  to  the  level 
of  a  brute;"  that  is,  as  he  explains  it,  "he  is 
divested  of  his  moral  nature." 

Dr.  Channing,  the  great  apostle  of  Unitarianism 
in  America,  says,  "  The  very  idea  of  a  slave  is  that 
he  belongs  to  another :  that  he  is  bound  to  live 
and  labor  for  another ;  to  be  another's  instrument, 
that  is,  in  all  things,  just  as  a  threshing-machine, 
.  •;  or  another  beast  of  burden;  and  to  make  another's 

will  his  habitual  law,  however  adverse  to  his  own.''-'  V  : 
He  adds,  in  another  place,  "  We  have  thus  estab 
lished  the  reality  and  sacredness  of  human  rights ; 
and  that  slavery  is  an  infraction  of  these,  is  too  :;:,.^ 
plain  to  need  an}^  labored  proof.     Slavery  violates 
•  not  one,  but  all ;  violates  them  not  incidentally, 


•»* 


-.,  *-    . 

SLAVERY.     <V>  147 

**  ' 


but  necessarily,  systematically,  from  its  very 
nature." 

These,  together  with  your  text,  young  gentle 
men,  are  leading  authorities  on  this  subject.  Fol 
lowing  these,  we  should  adopt  the  belief  that  the 
principle  of  slavery  in  question  is,  as  they  express 
it,  "  an  absorption  of  the  humanity  of  one  man  into 
the  will  of  another  ;"  or,  in  other  words,  that 
"  slavery  contemplates  him,  not  as  a  responsible, 
but  a  mere  sentient  being  —  not  as  a  man,  but  a 
brute." 

If  this  be  so,  the  wonder  is  not,  as  they  affirm, 
that  the  civilized  world  is  so  indignant  at  its 
outrageous  wrongs,  but  that  "  it  has  been  so  slow 
in  detecting  its  gross  and  palpable  enormities  : 
that  mankind,  for  so  many  ages,  acquiesced  in  a 
system  as  monstrously  unnatural  as  would  be  a 
general  effort  to  walk  upon  the  head  or  to  think 
with  the  feet  !"  We  need  have  no  hesitation  in 
flatly  denying  the  truth  of  this  description,  and 
pronouncing  it  a  caricature.  For  if  this  be  a  faith 
ful  description,  we  can  safely^  affirm  that  no  in 
stance  of  slavery  ever  existed  under  the  authority 
of  law  in  any  nation  known  to  history. 

In  the  first  place,  the  state  -of  things  so  rhetori 
cally  described  is  a  palpable  impossibility.  The 
constitution  of  the  human  mind  is  in  flat  contra- 
diction  to  the  idea  of  the  absorption  of  the  will, 


148  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

the  conscience,  and  the  understanding  of  one  man 

-  *^  ,  <r-  •     ••*"*•••',•*  1  *  ^fc  * 

into  the  personality  of  another !  This  is  a  state 
of  things  which  the  human  mind  cannot  even  con 
ceive  to  be  possible,  but  does  intuitively  perceive 
to  be  utterly  impossible.  In  the  next  place,  we 
affirm  that  the  idea  of  personal  rights  and  personal 
responsibility  pervades  the  whole  system.  Both 
the  Divine  and  human  laws  which  recognize  the 
system,  assume  the  personality  and  responsibility 
of  the  slave.  Even  under  the  Roman  and  Grecian 
codes — which  recognized  far  more  stringent  forms 
of  slavery  than  that  of  the  African  in  this  country, 
at  any  period  of  its  history — this  view  of  the  sys-  ./. , 
tern  will  find  no  support.  Paul  and  Peter,  who 
wrote  with  special  allusion  to  slaves  under  these 
lawrs,  so  far  from  regarding  this  personality  as  lost 
and  swallowed  up  in  the  humanity  of  the  master, 
expressly  assumed  their  personality  and  respon 
sibility.  For  whilst  they  recognize  him  as  a  ser 
vant,  they  treat  him  as  a  man :  they  declare  him 
possessed,  though  a  slave,  of  certain  rights,  which 
it  was  injustice  in  the  master  to  disregard,  and  ":  ^ 
under  obligation  to  certain  duties,  as  a  slave,  which 
it  would  be  sinful  in  him  to  neglect ;  and,  more 
over,  that  it  was  the  office  of  that  religion  whose 
functions  they  filled,  to  protect  these  rights  and 
duties  with  its  most  solemn  sanctions.  Hence 
they  enjoin  upon  masters  the  moral  obligation  of 


;-.-  r.^.'xv'.     •  V-^V.;    •/.'.•" '>'."?   -*'.t  "-7   .'*• 

OF    SLAVERY.  149 

*"•••  "  *'    *V  '*  -»     "w  «'• 

rendering  to  their  bondmen  "tf/tatf  which  is  just 
and  equal,"  and  upon  servants  to  "be  subject  to 
their  masters  with  all  fear,  not  only  to  the  good  and 
gentle,  but  also  to  the  froward.  For  this  is  thank- 
worthy,  if  a  man,  for  conscience  toivard  G-od,  endure 
grief,  suffering  wrongfully"  Was  this  treating 
them  as  beings  whose  wills  were  absorbed  in  the 
humanity  of  the  master,  who  therefore  was  the 
only  accountable  person  for  all  their  conduct! 
Nothing  could  be  more  alien  from  truth,  and  signifi 
cant  of  falsehood  !  No  :  obedience  is  never  ap 
plied,  except  as  a  figurative  term,  and  especially 
by  the  apostles,  to  any  but  rational  and  account 
able  beings.  And  with  such  inspired  requisitions' 
before  us — "  obedience  from  the  one,  and  justice 
from  the  other" — it  is  grossly  absurd  to  affirm 
that  the  relation  of  master  and  slave  regards  the 
slave  as  a  brute,  and  not  as  an  accountable  man. 
"  The  blind  passivity  of  a  corpse,  or  the  mechani 
cal  obedience  of  a  tool,"  which  Channing  and 
Whew  ell  regard  as  constituting  the  essential  idea 
of  slavery,  seems  never  to  have  entered  the  minds 
of  the  apostles.  They  considered  slavery  as  a 
social  and  political  economy,  in  which  relations 
involving  reciprocal  rights  and  duties  subsisted, 
between  moral,  intelligent,  and  responsible  beings, 
between  whom,  as  between  men  in  other  relations, 
religion  held  the  scales  of  justice. 


150  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

The  right  of  property  in  man,  as  man,  is  no 
where  taught  in  Scripture,  although  it  distinctly     "^ 
recognizes  the  relation  of  master  and  slave.     The 

^ 

right  which  the  master  has  in  the  slave,  according 
to  the  Scriptures,  is,  not  to  the  man,  but  to  so 
much  of  his  time  and  labor  as  is  consistent  with 
his  rights  of  humanity.  The  master  who  disre 
gards  these  claims,  denies  his  slave  that  which  is 
"just  and  equal."  The  duty  which  the  slave 
owes,  is  the  service  which,  in  conformity  with 
these  rights,  the  master  exacts.  A  failure  in 
either  party  is  a  breach  of  Scripture. 

The  only  difference  between  free  and  slave 
labor  is,  that  the  one  is  rendered  in  consequence 
of  a  contract,  and  the  other  in  consequence  of  a 
command.  Each  is  service  rendered  according  to 
the  will  of  another ;  and  each  may,  or  may  not, 
be  according  to  the  consent  of  the  party  rendering 
service.  The  former  is  often  as  involuntary,  in 
point  of  fact,  as  the  latter.  Hirelings  assent  to  it, 
in  most  cases,  as  a  necessity  of  their  condition. 
They  do  not  consent  to  it — they  are  far  from 
choosing  it.  A  few  persons  reach  that  high  attain 
ment  of  a  pure  Christianity,  in  which  they  learn 
in  every  state  in  which  they  are  placed,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  '"  therewith  to  be  content" — 
-they  choose  it.  But  in  the  general,  hired  service 
*s  in  point  of  fact,  as  involuntary  as  slave  labor. 


OF    SLAVERY.  151 

A  right,  therefore,  to  the  time  and  labor  of 
another  to  a  definite  extent,  by  no  means  involves 
the  right  to  his  humanity.  Such  right  is  a  mere 
fiction,  to  which  even  the  imagination  can  give  no 
significance  or  consistency.  "  It  is  the  miserable 
cant  of  those  who  would  storm  by  prejudice  what 
they  cannot  demolish  by  argument." 

Thus,  young  gentlemen,  that  the  abstract  prin 
ciple  of  the  institution  of  slavery,  and  the  princi 
ples  of  natural  rights,  coincide,  and  that  both  have 
the  unqualified  approbation  of  Holy  Scripture, 
cannot  be  successfully  controverted.  Natural 
rights  and  the  principle  of  slavery  do  not  conflict. 
No  man  has  a  natural  right  to  do  wrong.  That 
wherein  the  principle  of  slavery  is  in  itself  right, 
is  that,  when  carried  out  in  the  form  of  civil  govern 
ment,  it  furnishes  an  instance  in  which  the  sub 
jects  of  government  who  are  liable  to  injure  society 
by  doing  wrong,  are  placed  under  such  disabilities, 
or  in  such  circumstances,  in  which  they  cannot  or 
are  not  likely  to  do  this  wrong,  but  to  do  that 
which  they  have  a  natural  right  to  do,  that  is,  do 
good.  In  all  cases  in  which  this  principle  enters 
into  the  government  in  such  ratio  or  modification 
as  to  secure  these  ends,  it  coincides  with  natural 
rights,  and  insures  to  the  subject  the  highest 
amount  of  freedom  of  which  his  moral  condition 
will  admit ;  it  is  to  him  essentially  a  free  govern- 


.152  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

'•*  j    .^  «»'•',  *'""..*        •'  •»     .  •* 

ment,  although,  in  adapting  itself  to  his  moral 
condition,  it  may  assume  an  extreme  form  of 
'despotism. 

Whether  the  Southern  States  of  this  Union 
have  wisely  adapted  this  principle  to  the  moral 
condition  of  the  African  population  residing  within 
their  borders,  and  thereby  secured  to  them  an 
essentially  free  government,  remains  to  be  con 
sidered. 


1.   -  '  V.          .    .  t  '•''„'' 

J-'M    •  **V       •<»:,•  "•••*•      .  X  't 


OF    SLAVERY. 

"/    \ft  '  '>'  «.'  <*'  / 


. 

153 


LECTURE    VII. 

;':  v^'  '"'r?'£ i  v  .-^H   .YV^; '  -v-- ;    j  a  v. " 

THE   INSTITUTION   OF   DOMESTIC   SLAVERY. 

The  question  stated — The  conduct  of  masters  a  separate  ques 
tion — The  institution  denned — The  position  of  the  abolitionists 
and  that  of  the  Southern  people — The  presumption  is  in  favor 
of  the  latter — Those  who  claim  freedom  for  the  blacks  of  this 
country  failed  to  secure  it  to  those  on  whom  they  professed  to 
confer  it — The  doctrine  by  which  they  seek  to  vindicate  the 
claim  set  up  for  them,  together  with  the  fact  of  history  assumed 
to  be  true,  is  false. 

'  'i-'V'  **••**  * "*•  »*V-''  >    •  "«*     V'       '.-*•*''  '•' %  *•%' 

HAVING  proved  that  the  abstract  principle  of 
the  institution  of  domestic  slavery  is  a  legitimate 
principle,  both  in  itself,  and  in  this,  that  it  coin 
cides  with  the  great  fundamental  principle  of  right, 
and  does  not  necessarily  conflict  with  the  right, 
and  is  therefore  in  itself  good,  and  not  evil;  the 
next  inquiry  that  arises  is  this  :  "Is  the  institution 
of  domestic  slavery,  existing  among  us,  and  involving 
this  principle,  justified  by  the  circumstances  of  the 
case,  and  therefore  right  ? — according  to  the  doctrine 
evolved  in  the  second  lecture,  namely,  that  the 


154  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

principle  of  an  action,  being  itself  right,  the  action 
is  right,  provided  other  and  coincident  principles 
justify  the  action,  or,  as  we  usually  say.  provided 
the  circumstances  require  it. 

Let  it  be  observed,  that  the  conduct  of  Individ 
ual  slaveholders,  in  the  exercise  of  any  discretion 
conferred  on  them  by  the  nature  of  their  relation 
as  masters,  is  still  a  separate  question,  and  not 
here  to  be  taken  into  the  discussion.  We  inquire 
as  to  the  propriety  of  the  institution  :  Is  it  de 
manded  at  all  by  the  circumstances  of  the  case  ? 
This  is  eminently  a  practical  question,  and  is  the 
only  one  which  involves  the  morality  of  the  insti 
tution  itself,  now  that  the  abstract  principle  is 
shown  to  be  legitimate. 

Domestic  slavery  is  one  of  the  subordinate 
forms  of  civil  government.  It  may  be  defined  an 
imperium  in  imperio — a  government  within  a  gov 
ernment  :  one  in  which  the  subject  of  the  infe 
rior  government  is  under  the  control  of  a  master, 
up  to  a  certain  limit  defined  by  the  superior  gov 
ernment,  and  beyond  which  both  the  master  and 
the  slave  are  alike  subject  to  control  by  the  supe 
rior  government.  The  question  now  arises,  Is 
this  a  suitable  government  for  the  negro  race  in 
America?  Without  doubt,  this  question  is  to  be 
settled  on  the  same  general  principles  by  which 
we  should  settle  a  similar  question  in  regard  to 


OF    SLAVERY.  155 

the  suitableness  of  any  other  form  of  government 
for  any  other  people.  For  example,  the  same 
principles  which  determine  the  fitness  of  a  mili 
tary  despotism,  a  constitutional  monarchy,  or  a 
democratic  republic,  to  any  particular  community 
of  white  persons,  will  determine  the  suitableness 
of  this  form  of  government  to  the  African  race  in 
this  country.  They  are  all  different  forms  of 
control,  belonging  to  the  same  genus — govern-  , 
ment ;  and  pervaded  by  the  same  generic  elements 
— the  principles  of  slavery  and  liberty  combined 
in  different  ratios,  in  order  to  secure  the  greatest 
amount  of  happiness  to  those  communities  to 
which  they  are  fitly  applied.  The  claims  of  the 
African  might  be  separately  examined  in  regard 
to  each  of  these  forms  of  government;  but  this 
course  is  not  demanded  by  the  interests  of  this" 
discussion.  Nor  need  we  stop  to  inquire,  how  . 
the  Africans  came  into  this  country :  whether 
lawfully  or  unlawfully — whether  by  their  own  act, 
or  the  act  of  another.  These  are  in  truth  side 
issues,  and  do  not  necessarily  attach  to  this  dis 
cussion.  They  will  be  treated  as  incidental  to  the 
main  question ;  for  although  it  were  allowed  that 
they  are  here  unlawfully,  and  that  it  is  our  duty 
to  remove  them,  yet  it  is  still  true  that  they  are 
here,  and  cannot  be  immediately  removed,  and 
must  therefore  be  subjected,  as  human  beings,  to 


156  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

S>  '         •    '"'** 

; •;;"  some  one  of  the  known  forms  of  civil  government 
What  form  of  government  shall  this  be  ?  Accord 
ing  to  principles  well  established,  and  admitted  on 
all  sides,  it  should  be  such  a  form  of  government 

'../;  "as,  from  its  adaptation  to  their  intellectual,  moral, 
relative,  and  physical  condition,  is  best  calculated 
to  promote  their  happiness  and  the  happiness  of 
those  with  whom  they  are  necessarily  associated. 
But  what  form  of  government  is  it  which  will 
most  probably  accomplish  this  object  ? 

The  anti-slavery  party,  as  well  as  the  abolition 
faction,  claim  for  the  Africans  a  democratic  repub 
lic  :  that  is,  that  they  should  have  equal  political 
privileges  with  the  whites,  and  only  be  subject 
with  them  to  the  same  modified  form  of  slavery ! 
On  the  contrary,  we  of  the  South  maintain  that, 
from  their  present  state  of  mental  imbecility,  moral 
degradation,  and  physical  inferiority,  they  should 
be  placed  under  that  more  decided  form  of  con 
trol  called  domestic  slavery.  Who  is  right? 

In  discussing  this  question,  we  take  the  ground, 
first,  that,  in  advance  of  all  direct  argument,  we 
are  entitled  to  the  full  benefit  of  the  presumption 
in  argument — the  burden  of  proof  lies  upon  those 
who  dispute  our  position ;  and,  secondly,  that  we 
are  right  in  fact — that  the  circumstances  of  the 
case  demand  this  form  of  government  on  behalf 
of  the  race,  as  their  right,  their  blessing ;  because 


OP    SLAVERY.  157 

this  form  of  government,  duly  and  properly  ad 
ministered,  as  it  may  be,  and  ought  to  be,  is  calcu 
lated  to  afford  them  the  highest,  if  not  the  only 
amount  of  political  freedom  and  happiness  to 
which  their  humanity  is  at  present  adapted,  and 
especially  in  view  of  their  existing  relations  to  a 
higher  form  of  civilization,  in  the  case  of  those 
among  whom  they  dwell. 

1.  We  are  presumptively  right.  The  onus  lies 
wholly  upon  those  who  oppose  our  position. 

In  taking  this  ground,  we  readily  waive  the 
presumption  founded  upon  the  mere  fact  that  do 
mestic  slavery  is  an  existing  institution,  and  is 
entitled  to  stand  as  good,  until  the  contrary  is 
made  to  appear.  We  go  back  of  this.  We  throw 
ourselves  upon  original  ground.  We  say,  that  if 
this  were  now  an  original  question  in  the  country, 
the  presumption  would  be,  that  this  was  the  ap 
propriate  form  of  government  for  the  African  race 
in  this  country. 

As  an  original  case,  it  would  be  an  undisputed 
fact  that  the  race  was  in  an  uncivilized  state. 
We  have  demonstrated,  in  a  former  lecture,  that 
an  uncivilized  people  is  not  adapted  to  a  state  of 
political  freedom.  To  such  a  people  dwelling  in 
the  midst  of  a  civilized  people,  it  could  not  be  a 
right,  because  it  would  not  be  a  good,  but  an  evil, 
a  curse.  There  is  no  reason  to  assume  that  to 


158  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

place  them  in  this  condition  would  elevate  them 
at  once  to  such  fitness  as  would  make  It  a  bless 
ing,  but.  there  is  every  reason  to  presume  that  the 
reverse  would  follow  an  elevation  to  political  free 
dom.  If  any  think  otherwise,  the  burden  of 
proof  lies  upon  him. 

This  presumption  is  greatly  strengthened  by 
the  fact  that  they  who  claim  political  freedom  for 
the  Africans  now  in  the  country,  have  signally 
failed  to  secure  it  for  those  upon  whom  they  have 
professed  to  confer  it.  Essential  freedom  is  in 
separably  interlaced  with  social  equality.  With 
out  the  latter,  the  former  cannot  possibly  exist. 
The  Northern  States  have  long  since  conferred 
the  forms  of  civil  freedom  upon  the  African  por 
tion  of  their  population,  but  to  the  present  hour 
they  have  denied  them  social  equality.  Herein, 
they  extinguish  all  the  lights  and  comforts  of 
essential  freedom.  They  settle  upon  them  a  suf- 
focative  anhelation,  which  is  truly  the  most  op 
pressive  form  of  slavery.  The  social  inequality 
of  the  races,  it  is  well  known,  exists  in  a  much 
more  modified  form  at  the  South  than  at  the 
North.  That  those  who  have  made,  as  we  allow, 
an  honest  effort  to  confer  essential  freedom  upon 
them,  have  signally  failed,  greatly  strengthens  the 
presumption  that  we  are  right  in  believing  that 
the  end  they  proposed  was  impracticable,  and 


OF    SLAVERY.  159 

that  we  need  not  be  so  unwise  as  to  imitate  their 
folly. 

But  this  presumption  is  still  further  strengthened 
by  the  fact  that  the  basis  argument  upon  which 
the  abolitionists  usually  rest  the  claims  of  the  Afri 
can,  is  entirely  sophistical.  It  is  this  :  Slave  pro 
perty  was  originally  acquired  by  robbery  and 
violence,  and  therefore  can  never  become  lawful 
property.  Hence  we  should  confer  upon  them 
political  freedom,  regardless  of  whatever  conse 
quences  may  follow ;  seeing  that  an  act  of  robbery 
can  never  extinguish  the  original  right  of  the 
person  robbed,  or  confer  original  title  upon  the 
robber. 

The  doctrine  assumed  in  this  argument  is,  that 
possessions  unjustly  acquired  originally,  can  never 
become  legal  possessions ;  or  that  a  state  of  things 
originally  resulting  from  wrong,  can  never,  by 
lapse  of  time,  or  the  force  of  any  circumstances, 
become  right.  The  fact  assumed  as  the  basis  of 
this  doctrine  in  its  application  to  the  African  is, 
that  they  were  stolen  while  in  a  state  of  freedom, 
and  reduced  to  a  state  of  slavery.  But  we  deny 
both  the  doctrine  and  the  hypothetical  assumption 
on  which  it  is  based. 

1.  If  the  doctrine  be  true,  it  will  follow  that  all 
wrong  is  without  any  remedy,  except  in  the  few 
cases  in  which  things  may  be  restored  to  their  origi- 


160  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

•'  *„•''.  ,  *•  -" 

nal  state.  This  would  be  a  deplorable  state  of 
things  indeed.  It  would  work  special  disaster  to 
our  Northern  brethren.  For,  first,  if  this  doctrine 
be  true,  they  own  scarcely  one  foot  of  honest 
land ;  nor  is  there  any  in  the  whole  country,  save 
the  original  purchase  of  William  Penn,  and  a  few 
other  unappreciable  portions  of  territory.  The 
Indians  were  the  original  and  rightful  owners  of 
this  whole  country,  according  to  the  theory  of 
rights  which  forms  the  basis  of  this  doctrine. 
From  the  most  of  their  possessions  they  were 
forcibly  ejected  at  the  peril  of  life  as  well  as  lib 
erty  ;  and  from  the  remainder  they  were  driven 
by  a  policy  which  in  civilized  life  would  be  held 
and  treated  as  knavery.  These  lands,  according 
to  this  doctrine,  should  in  all  honesty  be  restored 
to  their  rightful  owners,  or  to  those  who  inherit 
them  under  their  title,  or  the  present  holders  are 
robbers.  Second.  The  Africans,  it  is  said,  were 
stolen !  If  so,  those  who  received  them  in  this 
country  can  only  be  regarded  as  the  receivers  of 
stolen  property — no  better,  if  not  worse,  than 
the  original  thieves.  But  on  this  hypothesis, 
Who  stole  them?  and  who  received  this  stolen 
property,  knowing  it  to  be  so  stolen  ?  These  ques 
tions  admit  of  but  one  answer :  The  forefathers 
of  the  present  generation  of  New  England  popula 
tion  !  From  their  ports,  vessels  were  fitted  out, 


OF    SLAVERY.  161 

and  employed  in  this  system  of  "man-stealing." 
They  became  the  receivers  of  this  stolen  property. 
Those  who  were  not  demanded  by  their  own  agri 
cultural  pursuits,  were  sold  in  Southern  markets. 
As  the  climate  and  soil  of  the  South  were  better 
suited  to  such  labor,  the  larger  portion  of  all  this 
stolen  property  was  accumulated  in  the  South. 
The  product  of  the  lands  of  New  England,  and 
the  product  of  these  sales  of  stolen  Africans,  have 
been,  from  time  to  time,  invested  in  commercial 
and  manufacturing  pursuits.  These  constitute  the 
chief  sources  of  the  great  wealth  of  the  New  Eng 
land  States,  to  the  present  day ;  and  these,  it  is 
well  known,  are  mainly  supported  by  the  products 
of  slave  labor  at  the  South.  This  being  so,  the 
great  wealth  of  the  Northern  States  can  be  regarded 
only  as  so  much  dishonest  gain  !  Really,  it  is  time 
they  were  looking  to  the  duty  of  restitution !  But 
the  disaster  of  this  doctrine  does  not  exhaust 
itself  with  our  Northern  brethren.  The  Norman 
Conquest  of  Great  Britain  is  that  by  which  all  the 
land-titles  of  England  are  held  to  the  present  day. 
All  these  titles  are  held  under  the  rights  acquired 
by  this  conquest.  Now  it  is  well  known  that 
the  Norman  Conquest  was  the  most  lawless  piece 
of  injustice  and  butchery,  the  record  of  which  ever 
disgraced  the  pages  of  human  history  !  Upon  the 
basis  of  the  doctrine  in  question,  it  is  equally  cer- 


162  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

tain  that  there  is  scarcely  an  honest  shilling  in 
all  England !  Nor  is  this  all :  the  present  titles 
of  all  Europe,  Asia,  and  Northern  Africa,  are 
traceable,  more  or  less  remotely,  to  a  source 
equally  cruel  and  unjust !  Thus  there  is  an  end 
pretty  much  to  all  honesty,  as  to  the  possessions 
of  the  civilized  world !  Surely,  the  absurdity  of 
this  conclusion  is  sufficient  to  invalidate  the  sound 
ness  of  the  doctrine  from  which  it  arises. 

Now  we  are  far  from  affirming  that  wrong— 
which  is  the  negative  of  right — can  ever  become, 
by  circumstances  or  any  thing  else,  otherwise 
than  it  is,  that  is,  wrong,  namely,  not  right.  But 
the  state  or  thing  which,  under  one  set  of  circum 
stances,  is  wrong,  "may,  under  other  circumstances, 
become  right.  It  is  not  the  wrong  in  itself  which, 
in  such  a  case,  changes  to  right ;  but,  by  a  change 
of  circumstances,  the  wrong  no  longer  inheres,  but 
the  right  inheres  in  that  which  formerly  involved 
the  wrong ;  and  therefore  the  state  or  thing  which 
was  before  wrong,  now  becomes  right.  Hence, 
although  it  be  admitted  that  the  land-titles  of  the 
civilized  world  were  originally  founded  in  wrong, 
and  therefore  were  unjust  titles,  it  may  not  follow 
that  those  who  now  hold  them,  do  so  by  an  unjust 
title,  because  the  original  title  was  unjust.  The 
facts  may  be  thus  stated  in  regard  to  the  most  of 
them.  The  titles  were  originally  acquired  by 


OF    SLAVERY.  163 

wrong;  in  many  instances,  cruel  wrong!  The 
authors  of  these  wrongs  were  usually  the  heads 
of  government,  who,  in  their  circumstances,  were 
beyond  control.  They  did  the  wrong.  The  ulti 
mate  results  of  their  doings,  by  the  lapse  of  time 
with  its  perpetual  changes,  upset  all  the  exist 
ing  relations  of  society,  merged  the  descendants 
of  the  actors  and  sufferers  in  these  wrongs  into 
the  mass  of  society,  beyond  the  powrer  of  just  dis 
crimination,  and  introduced  an  altogether  new  state 
of  things.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  original 
wrong  was  ultimately  placed  beyond  all  remedy. 
The  restoration  of  the  lands  to  the  original  and 
lawful  owners  became  an  impossibility.  To  at 
tempt  such  a  work  could  only  be  followed  by  the 
grossest  injustice  to  all  the  parties  concerned.  In 
this  state  of  things,  the  question  of  title — Who 
shall  own  these  lands  ?  becomes  an  original  ques 
tion.  And  in  this  state  of  the  case,  the  simple 
fact  of  present  possession — there  being  no  one  to 
claim  antecedent  possession — according  to  the 
fundamental  belief  of  all  mankind,  confers  moral 
title,  and  should  therefore  be  made  legal.  Hence 
the  title  is  just,  because  the  idea  of  the  right  in 
itself — that  which  is  good — now  inheres  in  the 
man  who  holds  property  under  such  circumstances. 
The  argument  authorizes  this  prescriptive  princi 
ple  in  political  science :  That  when  the  original 


164  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PEACTICE 

•-  .   - ' 

zvrong  cannot  be  remedied,  without  inflicting  greater 
injury ',  ON  ALL  THE  PARTIES  CONCERNED,  than  to  per- 
mit  the  existing  state  of  things  to  remain,  in  this 
state  of  the  case,  the  existing  state  of  things  is  in 
itself  RIGHT,  and  should  be  permitted  to  remain. 

Upon  the  basis  of  this  principle — without  which, 
we  have  no  scruple  to  say,  society  could  nowhere 
harmonize  for  a  single  hour — we  have  no  difficulty 
in  vindicating  the  honesty  of  the  descendants  of 
the  Puritans,  or  the  land-titles  of  the  civilized 
world,  or  the  thousand  other  titles  which  are 
equally  involved  by  the  absurd  doctrine  under 
consideration.  Nor  do  we  find  any  difficulty  in 
allowing  them  a  just  title  to  all  the  proceeds  of 
the  African  traffic,  even  though  it  should  be  con 
ceded  that  their  forefathers  were,  as  they  charac 
terize  them,  a  set  of  mere  men-steaters  ! 

Having  invalidated  this  doctrine  as  a  piece  of 
gross  sophistry,  we  remark : 

2.  That  we  also  deny  the  hypothesis  upon  the 
basis  of  which  this  false  doctrine  has  been  made 
to  apply  to  the  Africans  of  this  country;  that 
is,  we  deny  that  African  slavery  in  this  country 
had  its  origin  or  was  founded  in  cruelty  and  rob 
bery. 

There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  statements  of 
history,  that  many  slave-ships  originally  (as  per 
haps  is  still  the  case  to  some  extent)  acquired 


*- 


OF    SLAVERY.  165 

their  cargoes,  some  by  robbery  and  violence,  and 
some  by  purchase.  The  sufferings  of  what  is 
called  the  "  middle  passage  "  are,  no  doubt,  cor 
rectly  stated  in  history.  We  have  no  motive  to 
controvert  these  statements,  nor  indeed  to  inquire 
into  their  authenticity.  We  are  not  even  the 
apologists  of  any  of  the  actors  in  these  scenes, 
much  less  their  defenders.  There  may  have  been 
cruel  wrongs,  and  under  circumstances  of  even 
greater  aggravation  than  those  recorded  in  history. 
Be  it  so !  The  actors  have  long  since  gone  to 
their  account,  and  we  may  safely  leave  them  to 
Him  who  judgeth  righteously.  The  conduct  of 
these  agents,  whether  cruel  or  kind,  is  not  an 
element  in  this  discussion.  Our  inquiry  goes  to 
the  foundation  of  this  matter — the  true  producing 
cause  for  the  introduction  of  the  African  into  this 
country,  and  his  position  as  a  slave.  What  was 
this  ?  It  will  not  be  maintained  that  these  agents, 
whether  humane  or  not,  can  in  any  proper  sense 
be  said  to  be  the  cause  or  foundation  of  African 
slavery  in  this  country.  With  much  greater  pro 
priety  it  may  be  said  that  the  artisans  of  Boston 
were  the  founders  and  builders  of  the  city.  They 
were  necessary  agents.  They  might  have  done 
their  part  well.  They  might  have  done  it  dis 
honestly,  cruelly.  Neither  hypothesis  will  enti 
tle  them  to  rank  as  the  true  and  proper  founders 


166  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

and  builders  of  the  city.  So  neither  are  the  men 
in  question  to  be  regarded  as  the  founders  and 
builders  of  African  slavery  in  America.  Whether 
they  did  their  part  as  they  should  have  done,  or 
should  not  have  done ;  or  whether  they  did  the 
work  at  all,  or  not,  is  the  mere  logical  accident  of 
a  cause,  which  lay  back  of  all  they  did,  and  of  all 
they  might  have  done,  whether  good  or  bad. 
This  cause  is  evolved  by  the  inquiry,  Why  did 
they  bring  them  into  the  country  at  all  ?  If  some 
potent  cause  had  not  been  at  work,  would  they  or 
any  others  have  brought  them  into  the  country  ? 
Certainly  not.  This  cause,  then,  whatever  it  was, 
is  without  doubt  the  true  foundation,  the  imme 
diate  cause,  of  African  slavery  in  America,  What, 
then,  was  this  cause  ?  But  one  answer  can  be 
given  to  this  inquiry.  On  it  there  can  be  no 
{livision  of  opinion.  It  was  the  state  of  public 
opinion  in  Great  Britain,  and  the  state  of  public 
opinion  in  her  colonies  in  this  country  at  the 
time.  This  state  of  public  opinion  demanded 
their  introduction  and  employment  as  slaves,  and 
hence  they  were  introduced  and  so  emplo}^ed. 
Whatever  demerit  or  merit,  then,  was  in  the  origin 
and  maturity  of  this  state  of  things,  is  traceable 
directly  to  public  opinion,  and  attaches  directly 
as  a  virtue  or  a  crime,  as  the  case  may  be,  to 
those  who  controlled  public  opinion,  through  the 


OF    SLAVERY.  167 

long  period  of  its  inception,  formation,  and  matu 
rity,  and  to  them  alone.  This  being  the  true  ori 
gin  and  foundation  of  the  system,  if  it  had  its 
foundation  in  robbery  and  violence,  it  was  because 
public  opinion,  through  that  long  period,  was  so 
eminently  corrupt  as  to  set  itself,  deliberately  and 
of  full  purpose,  to  work  to  perpetrate  robbery  and 
violence,  without  any  redeeming  virtue ;  for  such 
crimes  admit  of  none.  Was  this  so  ?  Can  we 
be  prepared  to  believe  it?  In  default  of  all 
history  at  this  point  to  detail  the  origin  and  pro 
gress  of  public  opinion  on  this  subject,  we  are  left 
to  form  our  judgment  from  our  knowledge  of  the 
men  whom  we  know  to  have  participated  more 
largely  than  any  others  in  directing  public  opinion 
in  their  day,  and  to  the  history  of  the  times  in 
which  they  lived. 

In  the  seventeenth  century,  African  slaves  were 
first  introduced  into  this  country,  and  the  practice 
was  continued,  under  the  sanction  of  law,  until  the 
years  1778  and  1808,  inclusive.  At  an  early 
period,  public  opinion  was  matured  on  this  sub 
ject  both  in  England  and  in  the  colonies,  and  we 
see  that  for  a  long  period  it  sustained  the  practice 
of  introducing  slaves  directly  from  Africa  into 
this  country.  Now,  we  affirm  that  the  position 
postulated  in  regard  to  this  case  is  among  the 
most  palpable  absurdities  that  can  be  conceived. 


168  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

The  character  of  the  men  who  controlled  public 
opinion  in  that  day,  and  the  patriotic  and  Christian 
age  in  which  they  lived,  utterly  disprove  the  gross 
assumption  that  they  yielded  themselves  up  to 
falsify  the  truth  and  the  conscience  that  was  in 
them,  and  become  a  mere  corporation  of  land- 
pirates  and  freebooters  !  If  our  ignorance  of  the 
history  of  those  times  should  disqualify  us  to 
account  for  the  existence  of  this  state  of  public 
opinion  on  any  strictly  rational  grounds,  common 
sense  would  forbid  that  we  assign  for  it  so  unrea 
sonable  a  cause  as  this ;  whilst  the  least  that 
charity  could  suggest  would  be,  that  we  place  it 
among  those  things  for  which  we  were  unable  to 
account. 

From  the  time  they  were  first  introduced  into 
the  colonies,  about  1620,  to  the  time  the  system 
may  be  considered  as  permanently  established, 
makes  a  period  of  some  hundred  and  fifty  years. 
Among  the  eminent  personages  who  appeared  in 
Great  Britain  during  this  period,  and  did  not  fail 
to  impress  their  genius  and  moral  character  upon 
the  age  in  which  they  lived,  we  may  mention, 
James  I.,  Cromwell,  and  William  III.,  Burnet, 
Tillotson,  Barrow,  South,  with  Bunyan  and  Mil 
ton  ;  and  also  Newton  and  Locke. 

In  the  colonies,  during  this  time,  there  lived 
Cotton  Mather,  Brainerd,  Eliot,  and  Roger  Wil- 


OF     SLAVERY.  1G9 

liams;  Winthrop,  Sir  H.  Vane,  and  Samuel 
Adams,  with  Henry,  Washington,  and  Franklin. 

These  great  men,  and  some  of  them  eminently 
good  men,  stood  connected  with  a  numerous  class  ' 
of  highly  influential  men,  though  inferior  in  posi 
tion,  and  all  together  may  be  regarded  as  embody 
ing  and  controlling  public  opinion  in  their  day. 
Some  of  them  were  preeminently  distinguished  for 
their  patriotic  devotion  to  the  rights  of  humanity. 
Many  others  were  men  of  wide  views  on  all  sub 
jects,  and  of  broad  and  expansive  feelings  of 
benevolence,  and  indeed  of  the  soundest  piety. 
Add  to  all  this,  many  of  them  are  to  this  day 
without  a  peer  in  intellectual  distinctions,  if  indeed 
the  same  may  not  be  said  of  their  attainments  in 
literature  and  science.  The  age  of  Barrow,  and 
of  Locke,  and  Newton,  in  philosophy,  and  of 
Washington  and  Franklin,  in  patriotism,  public 
benevolence,  common  sense,  and  general  learning, 
still  stands  on  the  pages  of  history  without  a 
rival.  But  these  men,  and  their  numerous  com 
peers  and  co-laborers,  were  no  better  than  a  hoard 
of  mountain  robbers  !  They  coolly  coincided  with 
each  other,  without  formal  concert  or  convention, 

but   by  the  common  attraction  of  their  natural 

«/ 

affinity  for  power  and  plunder,  to  murder,  rob, 
and  enslave  thousands  of  their  innocent  and  de 
fenceless  fellow-creatures — the  helpless  victims  of 


. 

170  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PEACTICE 

public  cupidity  !  Such  is  the  shameless  position 
strangely  postulated  in  regard  to  these  men  and 
their  times !  We  scruple  not  to  affirm  that  this 
is  more  than  a  stupid  gratuity !  It  is  a  gross 
calumny  upon  humanity  itself,  of  which  the 
authors  should  be  profoundly  ashamed ! 

The  advantages  enjoyed  in  this  day,  by  the 
great  success  which  has  attended  the  art  of  print 
ing — an  art  for  which  wre  are  indebted  to  the 
genius  of  a  former  age — would  no  doubt  afford  us 
a  satisfactory  history  of  the  rise  and  progress  of 
public  opinion  on  such  a  subject,  if  it  were  to 
occur  in  this  age.  The  state  of  the  art  at  that 
period,  the  proscription  of  the  press,  aM  especially 
the  new  and  unsettled  condition  of  the  colonies, 
furnishes  good  cause  for  the  deficiency.  We  may 
not,  therefore,  account  for  public  opinion  as  satis 
factorily  now,  as  might  have  been  done  at  that 
time.  Still  we  have  abundant  materials  for  a 
charitable  construction  of  the  conduct  of  our  fore 
fathers — both  here  and  in  England.  The  savage, 
and  indeed  the  brutal  condition  of  the  larger  por 
tion  of  Africa,  had  long  since  been  a  matter  of 
history.  All  well-informed  men  were  familiar 
with  the  facts  of  African  history.  They  were  not 
only  Pagans,  but  Pagans  of  the  most  stupid  and 
enslaved  kind — without  the  knowledge  of  God,  or 
the  rudest  forms  of  civilization.  The  population 


OF    SLAVERY.  171 

was  divided  into  tribes,  each  governed  by  an  igno 
rant  petty  king,  who  ruled  his  equally  Pagan  sub 
jects  as  absolute  slaves.  In  the  place  of  the 
knowledge  and  worship  of  the  true  God,  which 
was  found  to  exist  among  the  savages  of  America, 
the  African  worships  the  devil — the  evil  spirit, 
and  that  by  the  most  humiliating  and  debasing 
rites  of  superstition.  His  superstitions  furnished 
frequent  occasions  for  wars.  These  wars  were 
highly  sanguinary  —  often  exterminating,  as  all 
wars  amongst  an  ignorant  and  highly  superstitious 
people  have  always  been.  To  spare  the  life  of  an 
enemy  in  war,  make  him  a  prisoner,  guard  him  as 
such,  or  make  him  labor  as  a  slave  for  his  support, 
is  an  a  Vance  of  civilization.  To  continue  to  put 
the  enemy  to  death  to  the  end  of  the  war,  is  the 
necessary  condition  of  a  state  of  war  in  uncivilized 
life.  Such  was  the  known  condition  of  all  the 
African  population  south  of  Egypt  and  the  States 
of  Barbary.  Did  not  their  condition  appeal,  as  it 
still  does,  to  the  benevolence  of  the  civilized 
world  ?  But  what  could  they  do  ?  Send  Chris 
tian  missionaries  ?  No.  We,  in  this  country, 
have  succeeded,  to  some  extent  at  least,  in  civiliz 
ing  the  savage  tribes  upon  our  border !  But 
the  Indians  were  not,  like  the  Africans,  idola 
trous  Pagans.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  com 
petency  of  missionary  enterprise  to  civilize  and 


172  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

christianize  Pagans,  was,  as  it  still  is  to  any  very 
material  extent,  an  untried  experiment.  The 
opinion  then  obtained,  and  to  this  hour  it  is  not 
wholly  invalidated,  that  to  reduce  Pagans  to  a 
state  of  labor  was,  among  other  agencies,  a  neces 
sary  condition  of  their  civilization.  What  then 
could  Christians  do  in  that  age  for  African  civil 
ization  ?  They  could  not  introduce  them  as  lab 
orers  in  England,  or  on  the  continent  of  Europe. 
Such  a  step  would  have  denied  bread  to  the  mul 
titudes  who  already  filled  the  menial  offices  of 
society.  It  was  impracticable  to  do  this,  and 
inhuman  to  attempt  it.  Thus  for  long  ages  had 
degraded  and  enslaved  Africa  "stretched  forth" 
her  imploring  hands,  appealing  to  the  ben  ;volence 
of  the  world  for  relief.  But  the  wisest  and  best 
men  of  the  times  saw  no  means  of  relief,  and  at 
tempted  none.  In  this  state  of  African  history, 
colonial  settlements  were  ultimately  effected  on 
the  coast  of  North  America.  At  an  early  period 
an  experiment  was  made  by  a  Dutch  Manhattan, 
to  introduce  African  labor  into  the  colonies.  Here 
a  wide  field  was  open  for  their  labor.  It  was 
greatly  demanded.  To  labor  here  denied  bread  to 
no  other  laboring  poor,  as  would  have  been  the 
case  in  England.  The  idea  was  caught  at  in  both 
hemispheres,  as  a  "God-send"  for  the  African — for 
the  colonies,  and  a  common  civilization.  No  one 

•-..' V  .".,--  '  '   •"•--".  <r? 


V     » 


OF    SLAVERY.  173 

dreamed  of  robbery,  injustice,  or  wrong  to  any 
one  !  All  considered  it  a  wide  door  which  a  kind 
Providence  had  opened,  and  which  piety  itself  bade 
them  enter !  No  man  who  was  worthy  of  the 
age  authorized  any  one  to  fit  out  a  ship,  from  the 
port  of  Boston  or  elsewhere,  go  to  the  coast  of 
Africa,  steal  a  cargo  of  natives,  murder  all  who 
stood  in  the  way  of  his  schemes,  tumble  them  into 
the  hold  of  their  ship,  without  regard  to  health  or 
comfort,  and  make  their  way  with  their  piratical 
cargo  to  Boston  and  other  markets,  and  turn  them 
into  money !  Those  who  did  this — as  many  no 
doubt  did — acted  on  their  own  responsibility,  and 
have  long  since  given  their  dreadful  account  to 
God  !  But  the  men  who  were  worthy  of  the  age> 
and  who  would  be  worthy  of  any  age,  did  author 
ize,  by  a  common  public  opinion,  the  practice  of 
going  to  Africa,  and  negotiating  a  purchase  with 
those  who  had  long  held  and  treated  them  as 
slaves,  and  especially  those  who  by  the  usages  of 
barbarous  war  were  condemned  to  death.  They 
considered  that  thus  to  arrest  the  practice  of  put 
ting  prisoners  to  death  was  humane,  and  worthy 
of  a  Christian  people ;  that  to  introduce  them  into 
civilized  society,  teach  them  the  habits  of  civilized 
life,  the  principles  and  experience  of  Christianity, 
and  ultimately  perhaps  to  send  them  back  to  re 
generate  their  fatherland,  was  an  achievement 


174  PHILOSOPHY    A^D    PRACTICE 

worthy  of  the  highest  attainments  of  piety/ 
Hence  they  had  no  scruple  to  purchase  them 
when  brought  to  the  country.  The  most  emi 
nently  patriotic  and  benevolent  of  the  colonists 
purchased  them.  The  most  pious  members  of 
churches,  and  distinguished  Christian  ministers, 
did  the  same.  The  immortal  Whitefield  did  not 
scruple  to  sustain  his  pious  foundation  in  Georgia 
by  a  large  income,  for  the  times,  from  slave  pro 
perty.  Were  they  correct  in  these  views?  We 
appeal  to  facts.  Multitudes  were  brought  to  the 
country  who  had  otherwise  perished  in  barbarous 
warfare,  or  been  murdered  as  captives,  and  the 
others  would  have  remained  in  a  state  of  Pagan 
ignorance,  superstition,  and  slavery.  By  coming 
into  the  country,  they  have  been  greatly  improved 
in  their  mental,  moral,  and  physical  condition.  I 
do  not  stay  to  trouble  you  with  statistical  details. 
But  my  investigations  warrant  a  statement,  which 
you  can  test  at  your  leisure ;  it  is  this  :  the  num 
ber  of  Africans  who  have  died  in  the  communion 
of  the  Methodist  and  Baptist  churches  of  America 
to  the  present  time — and  who,  therefore,  we  may 
assume,  were  christianized  by  their  residence  in 
this  country — exceeds  the  whole  number  of  all 
the  heathen  who  have  been  christianized  by  the 
labors  of  all  the  Protestant  denominations  of 
Christendom  since  the  days  of  Luther.  Hence, 


OF    SLAVERY.  175 

we  conclude,  that  whatever  were  the  cruelties  of 
individuals  engaged  in  the  original  slave  trade, 
(for  which  they  were  responsible,)  and  whatever 
may  have  been  the  abuses  of  the  system  since,  by 
individual  slave  owners,  the  system  itself  was 
originally  founded  in  a  profound  view  of  the  prin 
ciples  of  political  science,  so  far  as  regards  this 
country,  and  of  political  economy,  and  the  claims 
of  Christian  benevolence,  so  far  as  it  regards  the 
Africans  themselves.  The  resources  of  this  vast 
country  have  been  rapidly  developed.  It  is 
already  the  asylum  of  the  oppressed,  and  the 
home  of  the  poor,  of  all  lands.  Slave  labor  has 
had  no  small  share  in  all  this.  The  regeneration 
of  the  continent  of  Africa  has  already  commenced, 
and  the  ultimate  result  is  looked  to  with  increas 
ing  confidence. 

Thus  we  have  invalidated  the  doctrine,  and  also 
the  hypothesis,  which  form  the  basis  on  which  the 
abolitionists  rest  their  argument  against  the  justice 
and  policy  of  the  South.  That  their  position  is 
not  tenable  is  no  direct  proof  that  ours  is  right ; 
but  it  does  afford  a  presumption  that  we  are  right. 
This  presumption  we  claim,  for  the  several  reasons 
given.  The  direct  argument  in  vindication  of  the 
system  of  domestic  slavery,  upon  its  own  merits, 
is-  reserved  for  the  next  lecture. 


176  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PEACTICE 


LECTURE   VIII. 

DOMESTIC  SLAVERY,  AS  A  SYSTEM  OF  GOVERNMENT  FOU 
THE  AFRICANS  IN  AMERICA,  EXAMINED  AND  DEFENDED 
ON  THE  GROUND  OF  ITS  ADAPTATION  TO  THE  PRESENT 
CONDITION  OF  THE  RACE. 

There  should  be  a  separate  and  subordinate  government  for  our 
African  population — Objection  answered — Africans  are  not 
competent  to  that  measure  of  self-government  which  entitles  a 
man  to  political  sovereignty — They  were  not  prepared  for  free 
dom  when  first  brought  into  the  country,  hence  they  were 
";  •  placed  under  the  domestic  form  of  government — The  humanity 
of  this  policy — In  the  opinion  of  Southern  people  they  are  still 
unprepared — The  fanaticism  and  rashness  of  some,  and  the 
inexcusable  wickedness  of  others,  who  oppose  the  South, 
v '•.  ^i.  V-;"'  :-'•;•',''*•  r-v".-f  .'  "»"«•>•  v- %."•'•*-  i* ''. 

IT  having  been  proved  that  both  the  doctrine 
and  the  assumption  of  fact  by  Northern  fanatics, 
in  regard  to  the  claim  of  the  African  to  a  repub 
lican  form  of  government,  are  false,  and  that  the 
presumption  is  in  favor  of  the  position  of  the 
South,  that  domestic  slavery  is  the  appropriate 
form  of  government  for  them,  we  are  now  left 
free  to  pursue  our  inquiry,  without  offset  from 


OF    SLAVEEY.  177 

these  vagaries,  into  the  merits  of  this  system,  and 
its  appropriateness  to  the  African  race  in  this 
country. 

The  African  is  now  here.  Whether  right  or 
wrong  originally,  is  not  the  question  before  us. 
He  is  here.  What  form  of  government  is  best 
suited  to  him,  and  those  with  whom  he  is  neces 
sarily  associated  ?  And, 

I.  Let  it  be  observed,  that  they  are  a  distinct 
race  of  people,  separated  by  strongly  marked 
lines  of  moral  and  physical  condition  from  those 
amongst  whom  they  reside.  This  difference  is  so 
strongly  marked  that  there  can  be  no  spontaneous 
amalgamation  by  intermarriage,  and  consequently 
no  reciprocity  of  social  rights  and  privileges  be 
tween  the  races.  Their  history  in  the  whole 
country  shows  this  to  be  the  case.  They  must 
therefore  continue  to  exist  as  a  separate  race.  To 
this  state  of  things  the  government  over  them 
should  be  adapted,  unless  we  would  violate  a 
material  condition  of  the  problem  to  be  solved. 
For  if  the  law  should  not  provide  for  this  state  of 
the  case,  the  conventional  usages  of  the  superior 
race  amongst  whom  they  dwell  will  certainly  do 
so.  This  is  in  proof  from  the  example  of  all 
those  States  which  have  failed  to  provide  for  the 
African  as  a  separate  and  distinct  race ;  for  the 
usages  of  society  always  supply  the  deficiency. 


178  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

This  omission  on  the  part  of  the  law  is  evidently 
to  the  injury  of  the  African.  The  history  of  the 
race  in  the  Northern  States  will  show  this.  Es 
sential  liberty  is  founded  in,  and  is  inseparable 
from,  certain  social  rights  and  privileges.  But  in 
these  respects,  the  African  is  a  far  more  proscribed 
and  degraded  race  in  the  Northern  than  in  the 
Southern  States. 

A  government,  then,  should  be  provided  for  the 
African,  as  a  distinct  and  separate  race,  existing 
in  the  bosom  of  another  and  superior  race.  Of 
course  this  will  be  an  imperium  in  imperio. 
And  as  they  are  confessedly  the  inferior  race, 
who  can  never  enjoy  essential  liberty  or  recipro 
city  of  social  condition  with  the  whites,  the  gov 
ernment  adapted  to  them  must  be  inferior  and 
subordinate  to  that  of  the  whites  amongst  whom 
they  dwell.  It  must  be  subordinate ;  for,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  it  must  be  an  independent  or  a 
subordinate  one.  But  two  independent  civil  gov 
ernments  cannot  coexist,  and  control  distinct 
races  dwelling  together  in  the  same  community. 
It  follows  that  it  must  be  subordinate.  As  sub 
ordinate,  it  must  either  assume  some  form  of 
military  government,  or  it  must  conform  to  the 
patriarchal  species  of  government — a  kind  of 
family  government — that  is,  the  domestic  form 
for  which  we  contend.  And  as  between  a  subor- 


OF    SLAVERY.  17£ 

dinate  military  or  patriarchal  form  of  government, 
both  as  regards  the  expense  and  the  comfort, 
there  can  be  no  controversy,  we  may  consider  the 
claims  of  the  patriarchal  form,  or  the  system  of 
domestic  slavery,  as  established  in  this  case. 

But  it  may  be  supposed  that  the  experiment 
in  the  Northern  States  invalidates  the  position, 
that  this,  being  a  distinct  race  of  people,  must  be 
controlled  by  a  separate  and  subordinate  form  of 
government.  These  States  have  a  portion  of  this 
race,  and  it  is  said  they  find  no  difficulty  to  result 
from  having  placed  them  on  a  political  footing 
with  other  citizens.  But  this  is  a  mere  assump 
tion.  It  is  not  borne  out  by  the  facts  of  history. 

As  before  stated,  the  conventional  usages  of 
society  have  denied  them  the  social  rights  and 
privileges  of  free  citizens  !  They  have  proscribed 
them  as  an  inferior  and  degraded  race. 

The  usage  which  forbids  intermarriage  is  at 
once  a  bar  to  all  social  equality.  The  road  to 
offices  of  trust,  honor,  and  profit,  is  closed  against 
them — nay,  even  the  means  of  subsistence  beyond 
a  scanty  supply  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  These 
facts  are  undeniable.  Now,  to  talk  of  liberty 
when  we  effectually  deny  to  a  people  all  that 
essentially  constitutes  it,  is  idle  in  the  extreme. 
It  is  a  mere  paper  liberty ! — liberty  to  submit 
to  the  crushing  usages  of  society ! — liberty  to 


2*.  ^' :'•>'",  s, .  ' .  r-' 

ISO  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

perish,  in  many  instances,  and  that  without  sym 
pathy  from  the  State.  In  these  respects  the  con 
dition  of  the  race  is  unquestionably  better  in  the 
Southern  States.  If  they  must  be  a  degraded 
race  in  the  North  as  well  as  in  the  South,  I  hesi 
tate  not  to  affirm  that  our  domestic  system  affords 
them  a  much  better  security  for  a  competent  and 
comfortable  living.  It  makes  better  provision  for 
them  in  old  age  and  in  youth,  in  sickness  and  in 
health,  than  is  secured  to  them  by  their  so-called 
liberty  in  the  Northern  States. 

Of  course,  poor  families  (in  the  literal  sense)  in 
the  South  do  not  own  slaves.  They  are  usually 
held  by  those  who  at  least  enjoy  the  necessaries 
of  life.  Now,  the  progress  of  civilization  has 
established  the  custom  in  all  such  families  of  shar 
ing  with  their  slaves  the  necessaries,  and,  not  un- 
frequently,  many  of  the  comforts  of  life.  The 
exceptions  only  make  the  rule  general. 

Again,  the  Southern  system,  by  making  the 
African  a  part  of  the  family  circle,  brings  him  into 
more  immediate  contact  with  the  habits  of  civilized 
life,  and  cultivates  a  high  degree  of  sympathy  be 
tween  him  and  his  owners.  Hence,  the  well- 
known  attachment  of  slaves  to  the  families  in 
which  they  were  brought  up;  and  their  utter 
repugnance  to  being  hired  to  a  Northern  family, 
whatever  may  be  their  reputation  for  piety 


OF    SLAVERY.  181 

They  are  without  practical  sympathy  for  them. 
They  often  subject  them  to  a  degree  of  hard  labor 
to  which  they  are  not  accustomed.  Many  humane 
men  in  the  South  decline  hiring  their  servants  to 
such  persons. 

There  are  evils,  it  is  true,  inseparable  from  the 
presence  of  the  race  in  this  country,  under  any 
circumstances.  By  conferring  on  them  a  mere 
paper  liberty,  the  Northern  States  have  adroitly 
freed  themselves  of  a  portion  of  these  evils ;  but 
then  they  have  evidently  accumulated  them  upon 
the  African.  The  policy  is  marked  by  no  sym 
pathy  for  the  blacks.  There  is  much  more  of 
selfishness  than  of  benevolence  in  the  working  of- 
the  system.  We  conclude  that  our  position  is 
true,  that  the  Africans,  being  a  separate  and  dis 
tinct  race  of  people,  who  cannot  spontaneously 
amalgamate  with  the  whites,  should  be  placed 
under  a  separate  and  subordinate  form  of  govern 
ment,  if  we  consult  either  their  welfare  or  our 
own.  The  examples  referred  to,  as  proof  of  the 
contrary,  are  strongly  confirmatory  of  the  position. 

But  to  claim  for  the  African  political  equality 
with  the  whites  is  subject  to  still  stronger  objec 
tions.  We  may  further  appeal  to  facts  in  support 
of  our  proposition. 

II.  They  are  not,  in  point  of  intellectual  and 
moral  development,  in  the  condition  for  freedom. ; 


182  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

that  is,  they  are  not  fitted  for  that  measure  of 
self-government  which  is  necessary  to  political 
sovereignty.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  justly 
claimed  for  them.  They  have  no  right  to  it.  It 
would  not  be  to  them  an  essential  good,  but  an 
essential  evil,  a  curse.  To  confer  it  on  them, 
either  by  an  act  of  direct  or  gradual  emancipation, 
would  be  eminently  productive  of  injury  to  the 
whole  country,  and  utterly  ruinous  to  them. 

This  proposition  is  capable  of  division.  We 
will  discuss  the  points  in  the  order  in  which  they 
stand. 

First.  They  are  not,  in  point  of  intellectual 
and  moral  development,  fitted  for  that  measure  of 
self-government  which  is  necessary  to  political 
sovereignty. 

We  have  said  they  are  an  inferior  race.  That 
they  are  so  in  the  original  structure  of  their  minds 
I  pretend  not  to  affirm — nay,  I  do  not  believe  it. 
I  believe  in  the  unity  of  the  races — that  God 
"  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men."  Acts 
xvii.  26.  But  that  the  race  in  this  country  are 
inferior,  in  the  general  development  of  their  intel 
lectual  and  moral  faculties,  I  am  free  to  affirm. 
This  I  attribute  to  the  crushing  influence  of  the 
ages  of  barbarous  and  pagan  life  to  which  their 
forefathers  in  Africa  were  subjected.  For,  as,  in 
the  progress  of  civilization,  each  succeeding  gene- 


OP    SLAVERY.  1815 

ration  of  civilized  persons  occupies  a  higher  intel 
lectual  and  moral  platform,  so,  in  the  descending 
scale  of  barbarism,  each  succeeding  generation  of 
barbarians  occupies  a  lower  platform  of  intellectual 
and  moral  development.  Hence,  we  can  account 
for  the  exceedingly  barbarous  condition  of  the 
race  when  first  brought  into  this  country.  It  also 
follows,  that  a  race  of  men  whose  intellects  have 
been  long  stultified  by  ages  of  barbarism,  cannot, 
by  any  contact  with  the  principles  and  usages  of 
civilized  life,  be  speedily  thrown  up  to  an  elevated 
platform. 

This  also  accounts,  in  a  good  degree,  for  the 
slow  progress  which  the  race  has  made  in  civiliza 
tion,  since  their  introduction  into  the  country. 

To  recur  now  to  the  fact,  which  cannot  be  con 
troverted,  that  they  were  brought  into  this  country 
in  a  state  of  extreme  barbarism  and  Pagan  igno 
rance  :  in  the  first  place,  were  they  then  in  a  con 
dition  which  fitted  them  for  political  sovereignty, 
and  equality  of  social  rights  and  privileges  with 
the  whites  ?  If  they  were  not  for  the  latter,  it  is 
very  plain  that  they  were  not  for  the  former.  It 
is  quite  certain  that  they  were  not  prepared  for 
either.  If  they  were,  why  did  not  the  Puritans 
of  New  England  allow  them  this  sovereignty  and 
equality  ?  By  their  consent  and  active  coopera 
tion,  they  were  brought  into  the  country.  Shal] 


184  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

V        ••.•-    ~  •     ?"    -*     -    •«?- '    ~  g:,'-\~  -         „:''  •••',"',.'•  •'     •      ,*     '        '      .<•  ",.'     • 

we  revilingly  say,  with  some  of  their  ungrateful 
^descendants,  that  the  good  sense  and  love  of  lib 
erty  which  had  so  lately  driven  them  from  their 
fatherland,  to  find  an  asylum  here  from  the 
galling  yoke  of  British  oppression,  had  been  so  en 
tirely  absorbed  in  the  passion  for  gain,  as  to  cause 

:V\  them  to  be  deaf, to  the  claims  of  justice  and 
humanity  in  behalf  of  the  African !  Shame  on 
their  graceless  accusers  !  No  :  their  good  sense 
forbade  that  a  race  of  barbarous  Pagans,  who 
could  not  be  absorbed  by  intermarriage,  but  who 
must  continue  to  exist  amongst  them  as  a  separate 
and  inferior  race,  should  be  placed  on  a  common 
platform  with  free  citizens  !  Their  humanity,  no 
less  than  their  good  sense,  induced  them  to  adopt 
the  plan  of  domestic  government,  or  slavery,  sanc 
tioned  by  the  usages  of  all  civilized  nations  in 
similar  circumstances.  If,  for  any  cause,  a  horde  of 

4  '.'/barbarians  should  be  introduced  into  New  England 
in  the  present  day,  in  numbers  too  great  to  be 
absorbed  without  injury,  and  in  a  physical  condi 
tion  making  it  improper  to  permit  their  absorption 
by  intermarriage  with  themselves,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Africans,  does  any  man  in  his  senses  pre 
tend  to  believe  that  those  States  would  confer  on 
them  either  social  equality  or  political  freedom? 
They  would  certainly  consider  it  due  to  them 
selves,  no  less  than  to  the  barbarians,  to  place 


OF    SLAVERY.  185 

them  under  a  subordinate  government  of  some 
kind.  Well,  this  is  precisely  what  their  forefathers 
did  in  the  case  of  the  Pagan  Africans  ;  and  wrhat 
the  Southern  colonies  did  when  the  New  England- 
ers  brought  them  South.  Thus  the  origin  of 
domestic  slavery,  as  a  political  institution,  in  the 
country,  shows  that  it  was  founded  in  the  humanity 
of  our  forefathers,  no  less  than  in  their  good  sense. 
Hence  the  second  position  stated :  Political  equal 
ity  cannot  be  justly  claimed  for  them.  They  have 
no  right  to  it.  To  them  it  would  not  be  an  essen 
tial  good,  but  an  essential  evil — a  curse. 

On  the  basis  of  the  doctrine  of  rights  discussed 
in  a  preceding  lecture,  this  proposition  follows  as 
a  conclusion  from  the  fact  here  established  in 
regard  to  the  Africans  of  this  country. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  the  barbarous  character 
of  the  race  has  greatly  improved  since  their  first 
introduction  into  this  country.  This  is  true — 
eminently  so.  And  standing,  as  this  fact  evidently 
does,  connected  with  the  civilization  and  redemp 
tion  of  a  whole  continent  of  barbarians,  upon  whom 
the  crushing  sceptre  of  Pagan  ignorance  has  lain 
for  unnumbered  ages,  it  fully  vindicates  both  the 
wisdom  and  benevolence  of  the  providence  of  God, 
which  permitted  their  introduction  in  such  vast 
numbers  into  civilized  life,  as  affording  the  only 
means  of  accomplishing  his  humane  design. 


186  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

But  the  question  of  practical  interest  at  this 
point  is,  Have  they  been  so  far  raised  in  the  scale 
of  intellectual  and  moral  elevation  as  to  acquire 
for  them  the  right  in  question  ?  This  point  can 
be  settled  only  ty  an  appeal  to  facts.  I  hesitate 
not  to  allow,  that  if  they  are,  it  may  be  justly 
claimed  for  them,  because  they  are  in  that  moral 
condition  which  justly  entitles  them  to  it.  It  is 
also  admitted  that  if  at  the  same  time,  they  are 
in  a  condition  to  be  absorbed  by  a  spontaneous 
amalgamation,  they  are  entitled  to  it  here;  and 
much  more  so  than  a  certain  other  class,  who  are 
flocking  into  the  country,  and  to  whom  the  right 
is  accorded  without  scruple !  This  latter,  how 
ever,  is  certainly  not  the  case,  as  the  facts  before 
alluded  to  do  clearly  show.  If,  then,  they  be 
entitled  to  political  freedom,  they  should  be  re 
moved  to  another  territory.  Africa  is  the  rightful 
home  of  the  Africans.  Thither  they  must  go,  if 
they  should  ever  be  fitted  for  self-government. 
Providence  has  wisely  forecast  this  result,  and  is 
rapidly  building  up  a  free  government  on  the  coast 
of  Africa,  as  their  future  home,  and  the  centre 
of  civilization  and  Christianity  to  that  long-be 
nighted  continent. 

But  what  of  the  question — Are  they  indeed 
fitted  for  political  sovereignty?  That  many  of 
the  free  colored  population,  and  some  among  the 


X; 
.' V 


OF    SLAVERY.  187 

slaves,  may  be  so,  I  think  is  more  than  prob 
ably  true.  Of  the  former  I  would  say,  that  it  is 
a  duty  they  owe  themselves  no  less  than  the 
country  to  accept  the  offer  of  the  Colonization 
Society,  and  remove  to  their  native  land.  For, 
although  it  be  allowed  that  they  are  in  the  moral 
condition  of  freedom,  it  is  obvious  that  they  never 
can  be  essentially  free,  in  the  bosom  of  a  people 
with  whom  they  can  never  amalgamate  by  mar 
riage.  And  in  regard  to  the  latter,  I  have  to  say 
that  such  of  their  owners  as  give  that  play  to 
their  benevolent  feelings  which  their  circumstances 
admit,  and,  as  far  as  they  can  do  so  with  propriety, 
facilitate  their  removal  to  Africa  by  consent,  en 
title  themselves  to  high  commendation,  and  it  is 
usually  awarded  them  with  great  unanimity  by 
Southern  people. 

But  that  the  same  admissions  can  be  made  in 
regard  to  the  masses  of  this  population  in  the 
country,  I  utterly  deny.  On  the  contrary,  I 
affirm  that  duty  to  ourselves  and  humanity  to 
them  alike  forbid  that  civil  liberty  be  conferred 
on  them  in  Africa,  or  elsewhere,  and  least  of  all  in 
this  country. 

The  assumption  of  Northern  agitators,  that  the 
Southern  people  are  not  competent  judges  in  this 
matter,  because  they  are  too  much  interested  in 
their  bondage,  is  as  untrue  in  fact  as  it  is  offensive 

V'v^V^Ar;i;K:<-v>; 

'•v'- • 


188  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

to  our  good  sense  and  morals.  No  doubt  there  are 
many  in  the  South  capable  of  any  form  of  wicked 
ness  ;  nor  need  it  be  denied  that  we  are  as  liable  to 
be  misled  in  our  judgments  as  other  people.  But  it 
is  equally  true,  that  the  good  sense  and  integrity  of 
the  great  mass  of  our  population  is  a  full  counter 
balance  to  the  acknowledged  cupidity  of  the  few. 
And  for  a  set  of  Northern  agitators,  who  never 
resided  at  the  South,  and  who  know  but  little  or 
nothing  of  the  African  character,  to  affect  to 
understand  it  better  than  the  intelligent  communi 
ties  of  the  South,  is  perhaps  the  coolest  piece  of 
impertinent  self-conceit  to  be  found  on  record  ! 

The  intelligent  and  honest  portion  of  the  country 
will  scarcely  fail  to  allow  that  the  judgment  of 
the  Southern  people  as  to  the  character  and  capa 
bilities  of  the  African  is  entitled  to  the  highest 
confidence,  and  may  be  regarded  as  an  authorita 
tive  settlement  of  this  question.  What,  then,  is 
the  concurrent  opinion  of  the  Southern  people  ?  I 
think  myself  well  and  fully  informed  on  this 
point.  I  hazard  nothing  in  asserting,  that  it  is 
the  general  and  well-nigh  the  universal  opinion  of 
the  intelligent  and  pious  portion  of  our  entire 
population,  that  our  African  subjects,  taken  as  a 
whole,  are  not  fitted  for  any  form  of  political  free 
dom  of  which  we  can  conceive ;  that  they  are  not 
in  a  condition  to  use  it  to  their  own  advantage,  or 


OF    SLAVERY.  189 

the  peace  of  the  communities  in  which  they  reside ; 
and  that  to  confer  it  upon  them,  in  these  circum 
stances,  would  in  all  probability  lead  to  the  extir 
pation  of  the  race,  as  the  only  means  of  protecting 
civilization  from  the  insufferable  evils  of  so  direct 
a  contact  with  an  unrestrained  barbarism.  It  is 
also  an  opinion  equally  sanctioned,  that  if  they 
were  prepared  for  political  freedom,  it  would  be 
scarcely  less  disastrous  to  confer  it  upon  them  in 
this  country.  The  reason  is  obvious.  As  they 
cannot  spontaneously  amalgamate  with  the  whites, 
they  could  not,  in  the  nature  of  things,  enjoy  free 
dom  in  their  midst.  Hence,  if  the  masses  should 
ever  reach  that  point,  in  the  progress  of  civiliza 
tion,  at  which  it  might  be  proper  to  confer  on 
them  the  rights  of  political  freedom,  another  loca 
tion  would  have  to  be  sought  for  them. 

The"  Southern  people  (using  the  term  in  the 
sense  specified)  constitute  a  large  portion  of  the 
whole  Union.  They  have  progressed  as  far  in 
civilization,  and,  in  many  respects,  much  farther 
than  any  people  in  the  whole  country.  A  very 
large  portion  of  them  are  confessedly  pious,  as 
well  as  intelligent.  Taken  as  a  whole,  they  are 
as  eminently  entitled  to  be  regarded  a  religious 
people  as  any  other  people  on  the  face  of  the 
globe.  Now,  that  such  a  people,  so  obviously 
entitled  to  the  highest  consideration  throughout 


V' 

190  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE/.;-*"' 

the  civilized  world,  should,  in  their  circumstances 
of  proximity  to  the  African  race,  and  long-con 
tinued  personal  acquaintance  with  their  habits  and 
character,  their  capabilities  and  their  liabilities,  be 
of  the  settled  and  almost  undisputed  opinion  that 
they  are  not  competent  to  self-government;  and 
that,  in  their  present  circumstances,  both  the  law 
of  reciprocity  and  the  law  of  benevolence  to  the 
African  forbid  that  the  rights  of  political  freedom 
be  accorded  to  them,  does  appear  to  me  to  afford 
the  most  conclusive  settlement  of  this  question  of 
fact  that  the  subject  is  capable  of  receiving.  For, 
although  a  question  of  fact,  it  is  capable  of  no 
more  conclusive  settlement  than  an  enlightened 
public  opinion  can  afford;  and  who  are  so  well 
situated  to  form  an  opinion  as  the  free  and  intelli 
gent  communities  of  the  South  ?  and  who  can  be 
more  honest  in  its  expression  ? 

As  we  cannot  suppose  the  agitators  of  the 
country  on  this  subject  to  be  ignorant  of  the  fact 
that  such  is  the  opinion  of  the  Southern  people, 
and  as  we  cannot  allow  that  they  are  incapable  of 
appreciating  the  weight  of  this  testimony,  we 
reach  the  conclusion  that  they  are  the  victims  of 
a  fanaticism  resulting  from  a  mistaken  religious 
opinion  and  feeling,  which  hurries  them  madly  for 
ward,  as  regardless  of  the  extent  to  which  they 
implicate  their  own  good  sense  as  they  are  of  the 


.;,'    -• 

OP    SLAVEKY.  191 


extent  to  which  they  are  aspersing  the  reputation 
of  their  fellow-citizens,  or  the  degree  to  which 
they  are  actually  putting  to  hazard  the  lives  of 
the  very  people  for  whom  they  piously  persuade 
themselves  they  are  laboring. 

Those  whose  conduct  does  not  admit  of  this 
apology  are  generally  men  who  occupy  the  arena 
of  political  agitation.  Their  object,  evidently,  is 
to  accumulate  political  power  in  the  so-called  free 
States,  and  to  promote  the  ends  of  personal  ambi 
tion.  The  fanatical  excitement  of  the  country 
may  be  turned  to  the  account  of  these  objects. 
Hence,  they  labor  with  a  zeal  worthy  of  a  better 
cause.  We  of  the  South  regard  the  agitators  in 
Congress,  for  the  most  part,  to  be  of  this  class. 
We  consider  them  highly  culpable,  if,  indeed,  they 
be  not  actually  criminal.  For  we  cannot  suppose 
them  to  be  ignorant  of  the  facts  and  reasonings 
here  adduced.  And  besides  these,  there  are  other 
facts  of  great  and  conclusive  authority  in  the  set 
tlement  of  this  question,  which  we  cannot  suppose 
have  escaped  the  attention  of  men  occupying  their 
high  stations.  I  propose  to  notice  some  of  them 
in  the  next  lecture. 


•< . 


192  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 


LECTURE    IX. 

THE   NECESSITY   FOR   THE   INSTITUTION   OF   DOMESTIC 
SLAVERY   EXEMPLIFIED    BY   FACTS. 

The  attempts  made  at  domestic  colonization — The  result  of  tho 
experiment  in  the  case  of  our  free  colored  population — The 
colonization  experiment  on  the  coast  of  Africa — The  example 
of  the  Canaanitish  nations — Summary  of  the  argument  on  the 
general  point,  and  inferences. 

"  THAT  the  Africans  are  not,  in  point  of  intel 
lectual  and  moral  development,  fitted  for  that 
measure  of  self-government  which  is  necessary  to 
political  sovereignty :  that  political  equality  can 
not  be  justly  claimed  for  them — they  have  no 
right  to  it :  that  to  them  it  could  not  be  an  essen 
tial  good,  but  an  essential  evil,  a  curse ;  and  that 
to  confer  it  on  them,  by  an  act  of  direct  or  gradual 
emancipation,  would  be  eminently  productive  of 
injury  to  the  whole  country,  and  utterly  ruinous 
to  them." 

This  is  the  general  proposition  still  under  con- 


OF    SLAVERY.  193 

sideration.  We  have  already  discussed  to  some 
extent  the  first  two  points.  I  reserve  the  subject 
of  emancipation  for  future  lectures.  I  now  pro 
ceed  to  exemplify  the  truth  of  the  positions  dis 
cussed  on  this  general  proposition,  and  thereby 
show  the  actual  necessity  that  we  sustain,  in  the 
present  circumstances  of  the  race,  the  system  of 
domestic  slavery.  And, 

First.  We  adduce  the  fact  of  domestic  coloniza 
tion. 

This  has  been  frequently  attempted  in  the 
Southern  States,  and  has  as  often  failed  for  the 
want  of  success.  Eminently  humane,  though 
mistaken  men,  have  tried  this  experiment  with 
their  slaves.  Some  have  tried  it  on  a  small  scale  : 
standing  only  as  their  nominal  owners,  and  giving 
them  the  control  of  their  time  and  labor,  and  the 
use  of  necessary  lands  for  cultivation.  Others 
have  tried  the  same  plan  on  a  more  extended  scale 
of  operations.  But  if  there  is  a  single  successful 
experiment  now  in  operation  in  the  Southern 
Cv.  IP  try,  I  am  not  aware  of  it.  In  every  instance 
the  ov>  ers  have  been  compelled  to  resume  the 
control  of  their  slaves,  to  prevent  them  from  be 
coming  a  tax  on  the  community,  and  a  nuisance 
in  the  neighborhood. 

Second.  The  result  of  the  experiment  in  the 
case  of  the  free  colored  population,  is  equally  in 


194  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

proof  that  the  race,  taken  collectively,  is  not  fitted 
for  self-government. 

Humane  individuals  have,  from  time  to  time, 
freed  their  slaves.  In  this  way  a  large  number 
has  been  accumulated.  There  is  not  a  county  in 
any  one  of  the  older  States  in  which  there  are 
not  many,  and  in  some  a  large  number.  In  this 
experiment  we  have  a  full  test  of  what  the  African 
is  in  the  enjoyment  of  civil  liberty,  or  of  his  capa 
city  for  self-government,  at  least  in  the  midst  of  a 
people  with  whom  he  cannot  amalgamate.  The 
result  is  daily  before  our  eyes,  and  may  be  known 
and  read  of  all  men.  After  a  few  honorable  ex 
ceptions,  the  multitude  are  by  no  means  as  well 
fed  or  clothed,  and  otherwise  provided  for,  as  the 
slaves  in  their  vicinity.  They  make  but  little 
provision  against  the  inclemency  of  winter,  and  in 
sickness  are  often  the  objects  of  public  charity. 
A  disposition  to  live  by  petty  depredations  upon 
society,  instead  of  by  honest  industry,  and  a  gen 
eral  depravation  of  morals,  are  characteristic  of 
the  caste.  Their  retrograde  tendency  is  so  obvious, 
that  no  doubt  is  entertained  among  men  of  reflec 
tion  that,  but  for  the  props  and  checks  thrown 
around  them  by  the  laws  and  usages  of  civiliza 
tion,  they  would  soon  relapse  into  the  savage 
state.  These  facts  are  so  obvious  as  long  since 
to  have  engaged  the  attention  of  our  domestics, 


OF    SLAVERY.  195 

Among  them,  the  term  "free  nigger"  is  one  of 
deepest  reproach.  Those  who  respect  themselves, 
it  is  well  known,  form  no  matrimonial  alliance 
with  them,  from  sheer  contempt  of  their  degrada 
tion.  I  have  frequently  met,  in  my  travels,  with 
old  men,  in  independent  circumstances,  who  by 
the  doctrines  of  the  pulpit,  enforced  by  the  per 
sonal  influence  of  a  favorite  minister  in  private 
life,  were  induced,  in  early  life,  to  free  their 
slaves,  who  now  confess,  with  the  result  of  their 
mistaken  piety  before  their  eyes,  that  they  con* 
ferred  no  boon  upon  them,  but  rather  inflicted  an 
injury  both  upon  them  and  upon  society.  They 
console  themselves  with  the  reflection  that  they 
intended  all  for  the  best.  This  picture  is  not  sur 
charged.  You  will  do  rne  the  justice  to  remember 
that  no  dark  picture  can  be  drawn  without  dipping 
the  pencil  in  dark  colors. 

I  have  an  interest  in  a  slave,  who  is  no  doubt 
in  the  moral  condition  of  freedom,  as  before  defined. 
I  have  assured  this  man  that  he  ought  to  go  to 
Liberia,  in  Africa,  and  have  insisted  on  his  con 
senting  to  go.  But  still  I  am  so  deeply  convinced 
of  the  truth  and  importance  of  the  facts  here 
stated  in  regard  to  our  free  colored  population, 
that  a  sense  of  duty  to  him  and  to  the  community 
forbid  that  he  be  placed  among  the  number. 

But  it  may  be  supposed  that  a  popular  feeling 


196  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

of  selfish  hostility  serves  to  crush  a  people  who 
would  otherwise  rise  at  once  in  the  scale  of  civil 
ization.  But  this  is  not  so.  I  repeat,  with  con 
fidence,  this  is  not  so.  The  honorable  exceptions, 
to  which  allusion  has  already  been  made,  are  uni 
versally  respected.  "John"  (to  use  a  general 
title)  "  is  as  honest  a  man,  and  has  as  much  self- 
respect,  as  any  man  in  the  neighborhood,"  is  a 
meed  of  praise  which  is  readily  accorded  to  free 
blacks,  by  all  intelligent  citizens,  and  with  peculiar 
satisfaction,  whenever  it  can  be  done.  Such  men 
of  course  enjoy  the  confidence  and  respect  of  their 
white  neighbors  in  a  high  degree.  But,  I  repeat, 
that  examples  of  this  kind  are  rare  among  our 
free  colored  population.  No !  an  original  cause 
of  this  general  degradation  is  found  in  the  fact 
stated,  that  is,  that  they  are  not  prepared  for  self- 
government,  and  therefore  can  derive  but  little,  if 
any,  benefit  from  its  political  and  social  advantages. 
The  crushing  weight  of  ages  of  barbarism  still 
presses  heavily  upon  the  intellect  of  the  African, 
and  in  his  present  circumstances,  to  say  the  least,  he 
is  too  feeble  to  rise.  It  is  the  accident  of  his  posi 
tion  that  he  is  free,  and  not  the  law  of  his  intellec 
tual  and  moral  nature  that  makes  him  so.  He  is 
a  slave  in  fact ;  and  without  the  restraints  of  the 
domestic  system,  the  tendencies  of  his  barbarous 
nature  are  left,  in  a  good  degree,  to  take  their 


OF     SLAVERY.  ^ 

downward  way.  In  many  counties  within  our 
knowledge  containing  a  large  population  of  free 
colored  persons,  I  am  satisfied  that  nothing  but 
the  humanity  developed  by  a  high  state  of  civil 
ization,  prevents  the  adoption  of  a  summary  pro 
cess,  by  which  the  nuisance  would  be  abated. 

But  if  the  objection  I  am  combating  be  modi 
fied  and  restricted  to  the  influence  of  that  usage 
which  denies  them  social  freedom,  I  will  agree 
that  it  has  weight.  It  certainly  retards  the  pro 
gress  of  those  who  are  rising  to  the  moral  condi 
tion  of  freedom  :  hangs  like  an  incubus  upon  those 
who  have  already  risen  to  that  state,  and  effect 
ually  shuts  the  door  of  enjoyment  against  them. 
This  is  no  doubt  true.  But  why  are  they  denied 
social  freedom  ?  The  answer  is,  Because  they 
cannot  amalgamate  by  a  spontaneous  intermarriage 
with  the  whites.  But  this  is  a  disability  under 
which  God,  by  the  nature  of  their  physical  consti 
tution,  has  placed  them,  and  which  the  progress 
of  civilization  itself  forbids  the  whites  to  disregard. 
Therefore  it  is  obvious  that  they  never  can  be 
free  in  a  community  of  whites.  Because,  as  there 
is  no  essential  freedom,  but  that  which  is  insepa 
rable  from  social  as  well  as  political  freedom,  and 
as  there  can  be  no  social  freedom,  but  that  which 
coincides  with  the  law  of  amalgamation  by  inter 
marriage;  and  as  Divine  Providence  has  closed 


198  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

*  *  V"  -'•"'"  v  • 

the  door  against  this,  it  follows  that  the  African 
never  can  be  free  in  the  midst  of  a  community  of 
whites. 

But  still,  that  this  is  not  the  primary  and  essen 
tial  cause  of  the  extreme  degradation  of  those 
Africans  upon  whom  the  experiment  of  freedom 
has  been  tried  in  this  country  and  found  to  be  a 
failure,  and  that  it  is  originally  traceable  to  the 
fact  that  they  are  not,  intellectually  and  morally, 
prepared  for  self-government,  is  still  more  clearly 
deducible  from  a 

Third  consideration — the  colonization  experi 
ment  on  the  coast  of  Africa. 

The  colony  of  Liberia  has  already  taken  its 
place  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  as  a  free  and 
independent  government.  No  colony  has  ever 
prospered  as  that  has  done.  As  a  rising  nation,  it 
shares  the  sympathy  of  the  civilized  world.  It  is 
destined  to  become  the  asylum  of  the  Africans 
of  America,  and  the  centre  of  civilization  to  the 
long-benighted  continent  of  Africa.  Thither  all 

o  o 

eyes  are  turned  as  the  oasis  of  hope  in  her  desert 
history. 

But  let  us  briefly  trace  the  progress  of  this 
hopeful  colony.  How  has  it  arisen  to  its  present 
position?  It  has  been  built  up  from  the  free 
colored  population  of  this  country — colonized  by 
tho;r  own  consent.  Herein  Divine  Providence  has 


OF    SLAVERY.  199 

wisely  discriminated  the  proper  subjects  for  this 
great  enterprise.  His  own  established  order  of 
things  has  effected  a  judicious  discrimination  of 
the  proper  persons  for  this  work.  The  sacrifices 
to  be  made  were  great.  The  climate  was  inhospit 
able.  Extreme  hazard  of  life,  in  all  cases,  was  to 
be  encountered  in  the  process  of  acclimation.  A 
Pagan  and  savage  population  were  to  be  encoun 
tered  and  subdued.  Every  thing  gave  undoubted 
indications,  that  if  ever  the  tree  of  African  liberty 
should  be  made  to  flourish  upon  that  Pagan  coast, 
its  roots  must  be  watered  by  the  blood  of  many 
patriot  martyrs.  In  these  circumstances,  it  is 
obvious  that  there  would  be  no  volunteers  in  this 
work  but  men  of  the  right  stamp.  Those  only 
whose  intellects  furnished  the  flint  and  steel  from 
which  the  spark  of  liberty  could  be  struck,  and 
upon  the  altar  of  whose  hearts  the  fires  of  freedom 
could  be  kindled,  to  light  their  pathway  to  that 
far-off  and  inhospitable  land,  would  embark  in  this 
great  work.  Those  who  were  in  the  condition  of 
freedom — whose  hearts  throbbed  with  the  pulsa 
tions  of  liberty — were  the  first  to  embark  in  the 
cause  of  African  civilization.  For  several  years 
the  work  went  on — slowly,  but  surely.  Many 
fell  in  the  conflict.  Still  the  work  went  on  !  The 
spirit  which  animated  the  patriot  colonists  is  elo 
quently  expressed  in  the  dying  words  of  the 


200  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

immortal  Cox  :  "  Let  a  thousand  missionaries  fall, 
ere  Africa  be  given  up !" 

Thus  far  the  work  went  on  in  the  order  of 
Divine  Providence.  The  voluntary  principle  was 
discriminating.  Those  who  were  in  the  moral 
condition  of  freedom  gladly  embraced  the  oppor 
tunity.  Those  who  were  below  that  condition 
were  deaf  to  the  call.  But  this  divinely  sanc 
tioned  process  was  quite  too  slow  for  the  fiery 
zeal  of  emancipationists.  The  door  of  Providence 
did  not  open  fast  enough  !  Encouraged  by  past 
successes,  they  attempted  to  hasten  the  work. 
Forgetful  of  the  original  and  avowed  objects  of 
the  Society — the  colonization  of  the  free  people 
of  color,  ivith  their  oivn  consent — the  friends  of 
colonization  began  to  preach  manumission  to  the 
owners  of  slaves.  Many  hearkened  to  the  call  as 
a  Macedonian  appeal  to  their  feelings  of  benevo 
lence.  The  slaves  upon  large  plantations  were 
emancipated,  and  funds  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  Society,  to  remove  and  settle  them  as  free 
citizens  in  the  new  colony.  They  were  sent  oif 
m  considerable  numbers,  for  several  years.  The 
result  was  disastrous.  It  threatened  speedily  to 
reduce  the  whole  colony  to  a  savage  state.  They 
were  not  in  the  moral  condition  of  freedom — they 
were  not  prepared  for  that  degree  or  form  of  self- 
government.  They  could  not  be  absorbed  by  the 


OF    SLAVERY.  201 

body  politic,  without  imparting  their  character  to 
the  body.  The  full  measure  of  their  golden 
dreams  was  simply  liberty  to  do  nothing.  We 
need  only  glance  at  the  results.  Mr.  Ashman,  at 
that  time  Governor  of  the  colony,  remonstrated,  in 
official  communications,  with  the  Colonization  So 
ciety  in  this  country :  the  officers  generally,  and 
other  eminent  citizens,  also  remonstrated  in  private 
letters  to  their  friends — all  begging  to  be  spared 
the  calamities  that  awaited  them  from  so  great  an 
influx  of  population,  evidently  unprepared  for 
freedom,  and  praying  that  they  might  be  strength 
ened,  as  heretofore,  by  a  judicious  selection  of 
persons  in  some  degree,  at  least,  qualified  for  civil 
liberty ! 

If  the  colonization  experiment  has  proved  the 
capacity  of  the  African,  under  suitable  develop 
ments,  for  self-government,  (which,  in  our  view, 
it  has  very  satisfactorily  done,)  it  has  proved, 
with  equal  clearness,  that  without  those  develop 
ments  he  is  wholly  unfit  for  it;  and  that  the 
masses  of  the  race  are,  as  yet,  undeveloped,  and 
consequently  unfit  for  political  sovereignty. 

These  facts  are  open  to  the  observation  of  all 
men.  They  strongly  rebuke  the  restless  agitators 
of  the  country.  They  clearly  confirm  our  position 
that  the  Africans  in  America  are  not,  as  yet,  in 
the  moral  condition  for  freedom.  I  have  proved 
9* 


202  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

in  a  former  lecture  that  political  sovereignty  is 
not  a  natural  but  an  acquired  right.  The  facts 
here  adduced  demonstratively  prove  that  they 
have  not  yet  acquired  this  right,  and  that  the're- 
fore  it  cannot  be  justly  claimed  for  them.  But 
more  than  this — they  afford  the  strongest  pre 
sumption  (and  further  than  the  presumption  in  its 
favor,  I  do  not  design  to  notice  this  topic  at  this 
time)  that  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  in  their 
present  moral  condition,  confers  no  benefit  upon 
them,  but  is  calculated  to  inflict  a  deep  injury  both 
upon  them  and  upon  society. 

It  is  a  general,  and  indeed  an  almost  universal 
opinion  in  the  South,  that  any  thing  like  a  system 
of  emancipation,  whether  direct  or  gradual,  by 
which  the  number  of  free  colored  persons  should 
be  materially  increased  in  the  Southern  States, 
would  inevitably  be  followed  by  their  indiscrimi 
nate  massacre,  as  the  only  means  of  abating  an 
insufferable  nuisance,  unless  the  citizens  were  to 
forsake  the  soil  in  favor  of  a  barbarous  horde. 
Such  an  opinion,  (I  may  repeat,)  so  generally  en 
tertained  by  so  large  a  community  of  enlightened 
and  virtuous  citizens,  who  are  in  immediate  prox 
imity  with  the  race,  and  acquainted  with  their 
character  from  early  life,  taken  in  connection  with 
the  historical  facts  here  enumerated,  affording  to 
any  mind  so  clear  a  proof  of  the  correctness  of 


OF    SLAVERY.  202 

their  opinion,  should  be  admitted  as  an  authorita 
tive  settlement  of  the  position  I  have  taken  on 
this  branch  of  the  subject.  Hence,  we  may  con 
clude  that  the  law  of  reciprocity  and  the  law  of 
benevolence  require  that  the  Africans  be  continued 
under  an  inferior  and  subordinate  government. 

The  question  again  recurs,  What  form  of  gov 
ernment  shall  this  be  ?  Of  course,  it  must  be  a 
modification  of  a  military  despotism,  or  a  modifi 
cation  of  the  patriarchal  form  of  government.  1 
am  free  to  say  that  I  can  conceive  of  none  so 
appropriate  as  that  adopted  by  civilization,  for 
the  purpose  of  controlling  a  barbarous  or  semi- 
barbarous  race  (and  especially  such  as  could  not 
amalgamate)  dwelling  in  the  midst  of  a  civilized 
community  :  that  is,  the  system  of  domestic  gov 
ernment  now  in  operation  in  the  Southern  States. 
If  any  shall  devise  another,  it  will,  at  least,  have 
the  merit  of  novelty  to  commend  it  to  public 
attention. 

The  correctness  of  the  doctrine  here  assumed, 
that  domestic  slavery  is  the  appropriate  form  of 
government  for  a  people  in  the  circumstances  of 
the  Africans  in  America,  is  very  strikingly  exem 
plified  by  the  history  of  the  remnant  of  Canaan- 
ites,  who  still  dwelt  in  the  land  after  its  subjuga 
tion  and  settlement  by  the  ancient  Israelites.  An 
inquiry  into  the  Divine  policy  in  regard  to  these 


204  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

heathen  will  fully  vindicate  this  position.  The 
civil  code  of  a  nation  is  admitted  to  be  the  best 
index  of  the  habits  and  morals  of  the  people. 
This  remark,  however,  cannot  always  be  taken 
without  modification.  We  shall  greatly  underrate 
the  civilization  of  the  Israelites,  who  first  settled 
the  land  of  Canaan,  if  we  judge  them  alone  by 
their  civil  code.  Smiting  and  cursing  father  and 
mother,  brutal  assaults  upon  pregnant  married 
women,  digging  pits  to  destroy  neighbors'  cattle, 
(Ex.  xxi.,)  seduction,  adultery,  dealing  with  fa 
miliar  spirits  and  witchcraft,  and  various  wicked 
ness  which  delicacy  forbids  to  repeat,  (see  Lev. 
xviii.,)  unnatural  marriages,  such  as  with  mothers, 
sisters,  children,  and  grandchildren,  (Lev.  xviii.,) 
are  all  practices  which  are  mentioned  in  a  man 
ner  that  shows  they  were  common  in  that  day. 
If  we  judge  the  morals  of  the  Israelites  by  the 
statutes  here  referred  to,  we  shall  certainly  con 
clude  that  they  had  not  the  slightest  claim  to  the 
character  of  a  civilized  people ;  but  it  is  equally 
certain  that  such  judgment  would  be  wide  of  the 
truth.  For  although  in  many  respects  the  na 
tional  morals  and  standard  of  public  opinion  and 
feeling  were  in  a  feeble  condition,  as  seen  in  their 
obvious  proclivity  to  idolatry,  still  those  laws  are 
far  from  being  characteristic  of  the  morals  of  the 
nation.  The  Divine  record  does  not  leave  us  to 


OF    SLAVERY.  206 

conjecture  the  cause  for  these  laws.  It  is  written. 
Lev.  xviii.,  "  Defile  not  ye  yourselves  in  any  of 
these;  for  in  all  these  the  nations  are  defiled 
which  I  cast  out  before  you.  For  all  these  abomi 
nations  have  the  men  of  the  land  done,  which 
were  before  you,  and  the  land  is  defiled ;"  and, 
"  Ye  shall  not  walk  in  the  manners  of  the  nations 
which  I  cast  out  before  you ;  for  they  com 
mitted  all  these  things,  and  therefore  I  abhorred 
them." 

We  can  be  at  no  loss  to  see  that  the  remnant 
of  heathen  who  survived  the  slaughter,  and  still 
dwelt  in  the  land  which  the  Israelites  settled, 
were  in  such  power,  and  accustomed  to  such 
opinions  and  habits  of  bestiality,  as  to  render  the 
progress  of  civilization,  in  unrestrained  contact 
with  them,  at  least  a  problem,  if  not  an  absolute 
impossibility. 

^quality  of  political  and  social  condition  with 
the  Jews  would  have  made  short  work  of  civiliza- 
tion  in  that  age.  Hence  we  find  that  bold  lines 
of  demarcation  were  drawn  between  the  Jews  and 
those  depraved  "  strangers."  Both  political  and 
social  equality  were  forbidden.  The  Jews  were 
authorized  (Lev.  xxv.)  to  make  "  bond-men  and 
bond-maids"  in  perpetuity  (unlike  the  slavery  of 
their  brethren,  which  was  for  a  definite  period)  of 
the  "  heathen  that  were  round  about  them,  and  of 


206  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

the  children  of  the  strangers  that  sojourned  among 
them ;  of  them  they  should  buy  and  of  their  fami 
lies  that  were  with  them,  which  they  begat  in  the 
land" — "  they  should  take  them  as  an  inheritance 
for  their  children,  and  they  should  be  their  bond 
men  for  ever."  The  theory  of  certain  pseudo- 
philanthropists  of  the  present  day,  would  have  led 
them  to  prate  loudly  in  behalf  of  equality,  and  the 
duty  and  practicability  of  speedily  elevating  this 
people  in  the  scale  of  civilization.  But  He  who 
was  too  wise  to  err  and  too  good  to  do  wrong, 
knew  better,  and  ordered  differently.  Barbarism 
— long-continued  barbarism — cannot  be  speedily 
elevated  by  any  contact  with  the  forms  of  civiliza 
tion.  He  who  denied  them  political  sovereignty, 
(except  on  certain  conditions,  which  clearly  indi 
cated  such  an  appreciation  of  the  privilege  as  pro 
perly  entitled  them  to  the  right,)  at  the  same  time 
provided  that  they  be  denied  social  equality,  and 
reduced  to  a  state  of  absolute  slavery — they  were 
made  bond-slaves  in  perpetuity.  Herein  they  were 
placed  under  the  ban  of  social  as  well  as  political 
proscription — a  position  in  which  they  could  do 
the  least  possible  mischief  to  the  progress  of  civil 
ization,  but  would  contribute  greatly  to  its  ad 
vancement,  and  thereby  promote  their  own  im 
provement  much  beyond  any  thing  they  could  have 
attained  in  their  original  heathen  state. 


OF    SLAVERY.  207 

The  Africans  when  first  brought  into  this  coun 
try  were  not  a  whit  better  in  morals,  and  were 
greatly  inferior  in  intellect  to  the  ancient  inhabit 
ants  of  Canaan.  And,  although  it  be  admitted 
that  they  have  improved,  the  facts  given  clearly 
prove  that  they  are  still  incompetent  to  self- 
government.  They  are,  therefore,  no  more  en 
titled  to  the  right  of  political  sovereignty  than  the 
Canaanites  were.  But  more  than  this,  the  Can- 
aanites  did  not  materially  differ  from  the  Jews  in 
their  physical  condition.  There  were  no  physical 
reasons  against  amalgamation.  Intermarriage,  it 
is  true,  was  forbidden,  but  it  was  for  reasons 
growing  out  of  their  heathen  state  alone.  Whilst 
that  state  should  last,  the  common  interests  of  each 
in  civilization  forbade  such  social  equality ;  but 
this  cause  out  of  the  way,  the  Canaanites  could  be 
absorbed  and  lost  in  the  stream  of  posterity.  But 
not  so  with  the  African,  as  we  have  shown.  He 
is  destined  to  exist  as  a  separate  people.  We  do 
not  say  he  shall  not,  but  he  cannot  to  any  mate 
rial  extent  amalgamate  with  the  Caucasian  race. 
If,  therefore,  it  was  proper  for  the  Jews  to  make 
slaves  of  the  Canaanites,  for  a  much  stronger 
reason  it  is  now  right  for  us  to  retain  the  African 
in  a  similar  state,  and  until  such  time  as  Provi 
dence  shall — if  ever — open  the  door  for  his  return 
to  his  fatherland. 


.  v 

208  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

On  the  general  question,  Is  the  system  of 
domestic  government  existing  amongst  us,  and 
involving  the  abstract  principle  of  slavery,  justi 
fied  by  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  and  there 
fore  right  ?  we  reach  an  affirmative  conclusion,  for 
the  reasons : 

I.  That   the  Africans  are   a   distinct  race   of 
people,  who  cannot   amalgamate  to  any  material 
extent  with  the  whites,  and  who,  therefore,  must 
continue  to  exist  as  a  separate  class. 

II.  That  they  are,  as  a  class,  decidedly  inferior 
to   the  whites  in  point  of  intellectual  and  moral 
development,  so  much  so  as    to  be  incompetent 
to  self-government.     Although  they  have  shared 
largely  in  the  progress  of  civilization,  they  havt 
not  reached  this  point.     The  proof  is  : 

1.  Such  is  the  almost  universal  opinion  of  the 
most  intelligent  and  pious  communities  throughout 
the  whole  Southern  country,  who  certainly  are  well 
acquainted  with  their  character  and   capabilities, 
and  therefore  fully  competent  to  judge  in  their  case. 

2.  The   experiments    at  domestic  colonization 
which  have  been  made  in  this  country  prove  it. 

3.  The  experiments  in   the  case  of  the  free 
colored  population  spread  through  the  country  are 
equally  in  proof. 

4.  The  colonization  experiment  on  the  coast  of 
Africa  is  still  more  conclusive. 


OF    SLAVERY.  209 

III.  That  domestic  slavery  is  the  appropriate 
form  of  government  for  a  people  in  such  circum 
stances,  is  fully  exemplified  by  the  Divine  pro 
cedure  in  the  case  of  the  heathen  subdued  by  the 
ancient  Israelites. 

We  infer : 

1.  That  they  have  no  right  to  social  equality  or 
to  political  sovereignty — that  to  accord  them  either, 
in  their  present  moral  condition,  would  be  a  curse 
instead  of  a  blessing.     It  would  in  all  probability 
lead  to  the  extermination  of  the  race,  and  inflict  a 
deep  injury  both  upon  the  moral  and  physical  con 
dition  of  the  whole  country. 

2.  That  every  consideration  of  humanity  and 
prudence  requires  that,  until  a  better  form  of  sub 
ordinate  government  shall  be  devised,  they  must 
be  continued  under  the  system  of  domestic  slavery 
now  in  operation. 


210  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 


LECTURE    X. 

EMANCIPATION   DOCTRINES   DISCUSSED. 

Gradual  emancipation,  the  popular  plan — It  would  operate  to 
collect  the  slaves  into  a  few  States,  cut  them  off  from  contact 
with  civilization,  and  reduce  them  to  barbarism — It  would 
make  an  opening  for  Northern  farmers  and  their  menials  to 
come  into  those  States  from  which  they  retired — The  modifica 
tions  which  the  system  of  slavery  has  undergone  within  late 
years — A  comparison  of  the  menials  of  the  free  and  of  the  slave 
States,  and  the  only  plan  of  emancipation  admissible — The 
gospel  the  only  remedy  for  the  evils  of  slavery — Paul's  phil 
osophy  and  practice,  1  Tim.  vi.  1-5. 

IMMEDIATE  emancipation  is  the  scheme  of  the 
abolitionists  proper,  whilst  gradual  emancipation 
is  the  favorite  plan  of  the  anti-slavery  party.  The 
ground  we  should  take  is  this,  that  no  plan  of 
emancipation,  either  immediate  or  gradual,  is  adapt 
ed  to  the  present  moral  condition  and  relative  cir 
cumstances  of  our  African  population.  Nothing 
of  the  kind  could  at  this  time  be  attended  with 
good,  but  only  with  evil. 

I  limit  this  discussion  to  the  subject  of  gradual 


OF    SLAVERY.  211 

emancipation,  because  the  reasons  by  which  we 
invalidate  this  doctrine  will,  a  fortiori,  disprove 
the  doctrine  of  immediate  emancipation. 

It  is  said  that  a  system  of  gradual  emancipa 
tion  succeeded  well  in  the  Northern  States,  and 
that  it  would  succeed  equally  well  in  the  Southern. 
Bat  I  deny  the  assumption  in  each  case. 

There  never  was  a  large  slave  population  in  the 
Northern  States,  owing  to  the  unsuitableness  of 
the  climate.  The  question  arises,  How  did  this 
system  operate  with  the  few  they  had  ?  It  is 
well  known  that  the  owners  anticipated  the  time 
appointed  for  the  law  of  emancipation  to  go  into 
operation,  and  sold  their  slaves  in  the  South ! 
This  law  only  operated  to  transfer  the  slaves,  for 
the  most  part,  to  a  climate  and  soil  more  congenial 
to  their  constitution  and  habits.  The  operation 
of  the  scheme,  therefore,  resulted  only  in  the 
emancipation  of  a  few  of  the  whole  number,  (see 
Lecture  I.,  page  22;)  and  these  few,  as  has  been 
proved,  have,  by  the  social,  and,  we  may  add,  in 
many  instances,  by  the  municipal  regulations  of 
the  States  within  which  they  reside,  been  essen 
tially  injured  by  the  change  instead  of  benefited. 
Hence  the  scheme  did  not  succeed  well  in  the 
Northern  States.  And  can  it  be  assumed  that  it 
would  succeed  better  in  the  Southern  States  ?  On 
the  contrary,  the  result  would  be  much  more  fatal 


212  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PKACTICE 

in  the  Southern,  for  the  reason  that  we  have  a 
much  larger  African  slave  population  than  existed 
in  the  Northern  States  at  the  time  their  emanci 
pation  laws  were  adopted.  Now,  suppose  (what, 
however,  can  scarcely,  if  at  all,  be  allowed  a  sup- 
posable  case)  that  all  the  Southern  States  should 
simultaneously  pass  laws,  providing  for  the  gradual 
emancipation  of  the  slaves,  and  hence,  ultimately, 
effect  their  emancipation,  as  provided  for  by  law, 
for  the  reason  that  there  would  be  no  market 
open  for  the  sale  of  them,  as  was  the  case  when 
the  scheme  was  attempted  at  the  North  :  even  in 
such  a  state  of  things,  you  cannot  fail  to  perceive 
that  the  propriety  of  such  a  measure  turns  en 
tirely  upon  the  truth  or  error  of  a  position  already 
discussed. 

If  my  position  be  correct,  (and  it  is  evidently 
established  by  the  facts  adduced  in  the  preceding 
lecture,)  that  their  mental  imbecility  and  moral 
degradation  is  such  that,  whilst  it  remains  a  fact 
that  for  physical  and  uncontrollable  causes  they 
cannot  amalgamate,  any  material  addition  to  our 
present  number  of  free  colored  population  would 
result  in  their  extermination,  humanity,  leaving 
all  other  reasons  out  of  the  account,  would  forbid 
the  measure  !  Nor  can  I  persuade  myself  thai 
there  is  an  emancipationist,  however  fanatical,  this 
side  the  strange  delirium  of  a  deliberately  wicked 


OF    SLAVERY.  213 

purpose  f  o  do  wrong,  who  would  not  "  pause  upon 
the  brink  of  this  Rubicon,"  when  assured  that  the 
Southern  people  generally  believed  that  extermi 
nation  would,  in  all  probability,  be  the  result  of 
his  priceless  experiment. 

But  it  is  extremely  idle  to  suppose  that  all  the 
Southern  States  would  simultaneously  pass  such 
a  law ;  nor  does  the  scheme  assume  that  they 
would  do  so.  No  :  the  plan  advocated  is,  that  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  the  States  of  Delaware 
and  Maryland,  should  first  emancipate  their  slaves ; 
then  Virginia,  then  Kentucky,  then  Missouri,  and 
so  on,  until  the  work  should  be  consummated  by 
a  gradual  process,  requiring  several  years  in  each 
State.  Let  us  now  inquire  what  this  plan  pro 
mises. 

If  the  owners  of  slaves  in  the  States  which  first 
in  order  passed  such  a  law,  did  not  anticipate  the 
time  of  its  taking  effect,  (as  in  the  case  before 
referred  to,)  and  sell  them  in  the  States  where 
no  such  law  had,  as  yet,  been  passed,  the  result 
would  be,  as  already  stated,  an  accumulation  of 
free  colored  population,  with  its  inevitable  conse 
quences.  But  this  would  certainly  not  be  the 
general  operation  of  such  a  law.  For  if  cupidity 
should  not  prompt  a  different  course,  the  owners, 
foreseeing  the  results  of  such  an  accumulation  of 
free  colored  population,  both  to  the  whites  and 


214  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

the  blacks,  would  anticipate  the  law,  in  by  far  the 
greater  number  of  instances^  and  sell  their  slaves 
in  the  States  in  which  no  such  law  had  been 
passed.  Still,  many,  no  doubt,  would  not  take 
this  course  :  a  want  of  forecast,  and  most  generally 
a  mistaken  notion  of  humanity,  would  prevent  its 
adoption.  In  this  way,  we  cannot  hesitate  to 
believe  that  the  accumulation  of  free  colored 
population  would  be  so  great  as  to  induce  their 
extermination  at  no  distant  day.  This  calamity 
could  be  averted  only  by  a  sale  of  the  slaves  into 
some  other  State  in  anticipation  of  the  law  provid 
ing  for  their  manumission. 

Now,  whatever  of  mere  selfishness  there  may 
be  in  the  proposed  measure,  nothing  is  more  cer 
tain  than  that  it  is  entirely  destitute  of  all  human 
ity  for  the  slave,  and  of  all  just  regard  to  his 
progress  in  civilization,  and  his  more  speedy  eleva 
tion  to  moral  fitness  for  freedom.  For  by  the 
time  this  work  had  progressed  through  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  the  States  of  Delaware,  Mary 
land,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Missouri,  and,  it  might 
be,  North  Carolina  and  Tennessee,  the  far  greater 
part  of  the  numerous  slave  population  of  the  whole 
country  would  be  accumulated  in  the  remaining 
States  of  the  South  and  South-west.  This  would 
be  the  inevitable  result.  For  the  free-soilers,  it 
seems,  are  determined,  if  the  effect  of  agitation 


OF    SLAVERY.  215 

can  accomplish  it  at  the  ballot-box,  that  there 
shall  be  a  cordon  of  free  States,  formed  by  the 
newly  acquired  territory  of  New  Mexico  and  Cali 
fornia  ;  and  in  this  case  there  would  be  no  further 
outlet  for  the  retiring  slave. 

Let  us  now  inquire  what  would  be  the  effect  of 
the  accumulation  of  the  race  within  the  limits  of 
a  few  States : 

At  present,  that  element  of  slavery  which  is 
properly  called  domestic,  confers  incalculable  ad 
vantages  on  the  slave.  By  this  feature  of  the 
system,  as  it  now  operates,  the  slaves  are  distrib 
uted  in  small  numbers  in  different  families.  There 
they  are  brought,  every  one  of  them,  into  more  or 
less  of  immediate  contact  with  a  high  state  of 
civilization.  Many  of  them  pass  the  early  part 
of  their  lives  in  the  dwelling-houses,  and  around 
the  tables  and  firesides  of  their  owners,  and  in  the 
midst  of  all  the  company  visiting  the  house. 
Others  are  engaged  in  field  and  mechanical  pur 
suits,  requiring  frequent  intercourse  with  the 
whites.  Their  Sabbaths  are  often  spent  (and  it 
is  daily  becoming  more  and  more  so)  in  the  midst 
of  our  worshipping  assemblies.  In  all  these  ways, 
to  go  no  farther,  they  enjoy  the  means  of  im 
provement,  and  are  making  daily  progress  in  civil 
ization.  This,  without  doubt,  is  the  plan  indicated 
by  Providence,  as  affording  the  most  natural 


216  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

means  of  accomplishing  their  ultimate  fitness  for  a 
more  desirable  form  of  civil  liberty. 

That  it  cannot  be  said  of  any  material  portion 
of  them  that  they  have  thrown  off  the  incubus  of 
preceding  ages  of  barbarism,  may  be  true ;  yet  it 
is  equally  true  that  their  progress  in  civilization, 
and  that  in  an  increasing  ratio,  is  perfectly  obvious 
to  any  man  whose  age  and  acquaintance  with  the 
race  would  entitle  his  opinion  to  credit.  Any  old 
man  amongst  us  is  prepared  to  speak  of  the  great 
improvement  of  slaves  within  thirty  or  forty  years 
past.  The  domestic  element  of  the  system  has 
accomplished  this  improvement,  and  will  certainly 
in  process  of  time  greatly  elevate  the  race  above 
what  it  now  is ;  and  they  are  now  a  very  different 
people  from  their  forefathers  who  first  came  into 
this  country.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  believing 
that  it  is  the  grand  design  of  Providence  that  they 
shall  be  thus  fitted  (the  far  greater  portion  of 
them)  for  position  in  Africa  as  the  source  of  civil 
ization  to  that  long-benighted  continent. 

Now,  to  take  from  the  present  system  its  do 
mestic  element,  or,  what  is  virtually  the  same 
thing,  to  place  it  under  such  disabilities  as  to  pre 
vent  its  benevolent  results,  would  arrest  the  progress 
of  African  civilization,  and  put  off  his  moral  eleva 
tion  for  ages  to  come.  And  this  is  precisely  the 
effect  which  the  accumulation  of  all  the  slaves  of 


•  T 

\ 


OF    SLAVERY.  217 

the  whole  country  within  the  limits  of  a  few 
States  must  have.  The  domestic  element  of  the 
system  would  be  effectually  crippled,  if  not  entirely 
destroyed.  A  large  number  of  slaves  would  be 
congregated  on  single  plantations.  The  whole 
territory  would  be  in  the  possession  of  but  a  few 
wealthy  planters.  They  would  chiefly  reside  in 
the  cities  and  more  healthy  districts  of  the" 
country.  Their  plantations  would  be  under  the 
control  of  stewards.  The  steward  and  his  family 
(usually  small)  would  constitute  the  whole  white 
population  on  a  plantation,  numbering,  as  would 
often  be  the  case,  several  hundred  slaves ;  and  the 
same  state  of  things  would  exist,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  through  large  districts  of  country.  This 
would  be  a  condition  of  the  race  essentially  differ 
ent  from  that  in  which  they  are  placed  by  the 
present  system ;  and  we  cannot  fail  to  perceive 
that  they  would  be  well-nigh  cut  off  from  all  con 
tact  with  civilization.  Instead  of  continuing  to 
rise  in  the  scale  of  civilization,  as  they  will  do 
under  the  present  system,  they  would  begin  at 
once  to  relapse  into  the  barbarism  of  their  original 
pagan  state.  This  result  would  be  inevitable — 
only  so  far  as  their  downward  progress  might  be 
arrested  by  the  occasional  voice  of  the  self-sacri 
ficing  missionary,  calling  to  the  altars  of  Christian 
worship  !  Would  this  be  humane  ?  Rather,  would 
10 


218  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PEACTICE 

it  not  be  brutal?     Yet  suclTwould  be  the  result 
of  the  scheme  of  "  gradual  emancipation !" 

There  is,  however,  another  result  of  this  pseudo- 
philanthropy  that  I  need  not  omit  to  mention  : 
the  removal  of  the  slaves  from  the  States  named, 
and  the  extermination  of  the  remaining  free 
colored  population,  should  they  be  found  to  exist 
(as  it  is  most  likely  they  would)  in  numbers  so 
great  as  to  constitute  a  nuisance  requiring  sum 
mary  abatement,  would  make  a  fine  opening  for 
the  enterprising  farmers  of  the  Northern  States 
to  come  in  and  possess  these  fertile  hills  and  val 
leys,  abounding  in  wealth  and  blessed  with  a  most 
salubrious  climate.  It  would  also  afford  a  fine 
outlet  for  their  own  menial  population,  which 
threatens  so  many  and  serious  results  to  them — 
the  papal  vice  and  ignorance  from  Ireland  and  the 
continent  of  Europe,  which  is  now  flooding  the 
free  States.  .How  far  these  lofty  considerations 
may  constitute  items  in  the  catalogue  of  motives 
which  prompt  the  political  agitators  of  the  country 
to  press  the  subject  of  African  emancipation,  I 
pretend  not  to  say !  One  thing,  however,  I  may 
say  in  behalf  of  the  Southern  people,  and  that  is, 
that  as  they  have  no  idea  of  perpetrating  these 
cruel  wrongs  upon  the  unfortunate  race  which 
Providence  has  thrown  amongst  them,  so  they 
expect  to  have  no  use  for  those  depraved  and 


OF    SLAVERY.  219 

•   . 

perishing  menials.  They  prefer  the  slaves,  in  any 
view  of  the  subject.  We  may  conclude,  then,  that 
the  position  established  is  not  weakened  in  any 
degree  by  considerations  of  either  direct  or  gradual 
emancipation.  No  :  the  emancipation  and  removal 
to  Africa  of  those,  and  those  only,  whose  moral 
and  social  condition  entitles  them  to  a  higher  form 
of  political  freedom,  as  the  voluntary  act  of  the 
individual  owner,  is  the  only  natural  and  safe 
method  of  emancipation.  It  affords  the  only  hope 
of  Africa,  and  of  the  African  in  America. 

The  proposition  discussed,  and,  I  think,  clearly 
established,  relates  to  the  essential  propriety  and 
the  fitness  of  the  system  of  domestic  slavery  as  an 
institution.  Whether  this  institution  is  capable 
of  improvement,  and,  if  so,  what  improvements 
are  demanded  by  the  progress  of  civilization,  are 
questions  quite  independent  of  any  thing  yet  dis 
cussed.  These  topics  may  engage  our  attention 
at  a  future  period  in  these  lectures.  I  would  only 
remark,  in  this  place,  that  the  system  has  under 
gone  great  modifications  since  its  adoption.  Laws 
and  usages  that  were,  no  doubt,  eminently  adapted 
to  the  extremely  barbarous  character  of  the  race,  " 
\vhen  first  brought  into  the  country,  have  long 
since  become  obsolete,  and  the  same  may  be  said 
of  many  subsequent  regulations.  Even  the  strin 
gent  measures  adopted  on  the  rise  of  abolition 


220  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

excitement  in  late  years,  have  had  but  a  brief 
authority.  The  progress  of  civilization  is  the 
same  in  its  results  in  this  case  as  in  that  of  any 
other  people.  As  a  state  of  barbarism  yields  to 
the  light  of  civilization,  men  are  more  and  more 
disposed  to  do  right,  and  the  laws  and  usages 
which  were  before  necessary  to  compel  them  to 
do  right,  are  thereby  superseded,  and  soon  grow 
into  disuse.  Hence,  many  of  our  Northern  citi 
zens  who  form  their  opinions  (as  many  do)  of  the 
practical  character  of  this  institution  at  the  present 
day  from  the  historical  account  of  the  laws  and 
usages  of  a  former  period,  regardless  of  the  fact 
that  they  have  become,  for  the  most  part,  obso 
lete,  entertainva  very  incorrect  opinion.  The  in 
stitution  at  this  day  is  a  very  different  affair,  prac 
tically,  from  what  they  suppose  it  to  be,  judging, 
as  they  do,  from  the  laws  and  usages  appropriate 
to  a  more  barbarous  condition  of  the  race. 

I  have  no  hesitation  in  affirming  that  in  by  far 
the  greater  number  of  instances,  the  condition  of 
Southern  families,  embracing  domestic  slaves,  is 
much  better  (that  is,  both  whites  and  blacks)  than 
that  of  the  larger  number  of  Northern  families, 
with  hired  domestics,  on  large  farms.  The  labor 
is  much  less  severe,  and  the  discipline  much  less 
strict.  The  Northern  family  has  more  frequently 
to  appeal  to  the  authority  of  civil  law,  and  to  the 


OF    SLAVERY.  221 

right  of  dismissing  unfaithful  servants,  than  the 
Southern  has  to  appeal  to  domestic  discipline. 
And  still  further,  the  Southern  domestic  is  prac 
tically,  in  all  respects  save  one,  quite  as  much 
upon  a  social  footing  with  the  white  members  of 
the  family  as  the  Northern  domestic  is  with  the 
family  in  which  he  is  employed,  whilst  the  sym 
pathy  existing  between  these  different  castes  in 
the  Southern  family  is  much  greater  than  that 
which  exists  in  the  Northern. 

I  acknowledge  but  one  difference  in  regard  to 
practical  social  equality  between  the  domestics  of 
these  families.  The  white  domestic,  from  the  fact 
that  he  belongs  to  the  same  race,  is  capable,  by 
industry  and  enterprise,  of  rising  to  an  entire 
social  footing  with  his  employer,  whilst  the  Afri 
can  domestic  cannot  do  so.  Although  the  civil 
law  should  confer  on  him  the  right  to  do  so,  the 
paramount  usages  of  civilized  life,  founded  upon 
his  physical  condition,  would  forbid  it.  This  ad 
vantage,  we  admit,  is  above  all  price ;  but  having 
its  foundation  in  the  wise  and  inscrutable  provi 
dence  of  God,  it  is  without  remedy  by  any  means 
which  we  can  adopt ;  and,  indeed,  why  should  we 
wish  even  to  alter  a  condition  of  things  founded 
*  in  physical  nature  by  Him  "  who  is  too  wise  to 
err  and  too  good  to  do  wrong,"  simply  because  to 
our  limited  view  of  the  Divine  economy  it  pre- 


.• 

222  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

sents  points  of  friction  which,  viewing  them  from 
another  stand-point,  we  should  desire  to  avoid! 
But  aside  from  this  advantage,  I  feel  free  to  affirm, 
that  in  every  neighborhood  which  is  brought  per 
manently  under  the  influence  of  the  apostolic  pre 
cepts  enjoining  the  relative  duties  of  master  and 
slave,  the  practical  working  of  the  system  secures 
to  the  African  a  higher  degree  of  essential  happi 
ness  than  is  found  to  exist  with  the  whites  who 
fill  the  menial  offices  of  society  in  the  free  States. 
No  white  man  can  be  satisfied  with  the  position 
of  a  menial  in  society.  Perpetually  chafed  by  the 
chains  which  fetter  all  his  attempts  to  rise  in  the 
scale  of  social  equality,  he  is  the  subject  of  a  con 
stant  and  painful  irritation.  Every  failure  in  an 
enterprise  which  promised  to  elevate  him  to  social 
equality  with  those  around  him,  is  a  new  cause  of 
heart-burning  and  jealousy  of  all  about  him,  and 
often  an  overwhelming  source  of  temptation,  not 
only  to  distrust  the  providence  of  God,  but  to  em 
ploy  the  political  franchise  to  unsettle  the  founda 
tions  of  society,  by  levelling  down  the  whole  to  a 
common  platform.  Hence  the  agrarian  doctrines 
which  find  embodiment  in  various  social  organiza 
tions  in  the  free  States.  Nothing  but  that  religion 
which  both  teaches  the  duty  and  imparts  the 
.moral  power  to  "be  careful  for  nothing,  but  in 
every  thing  to  give  thanks/'  and  in  every  condi- 


OF    SLAVERY.  223 

tion  in  which  Divine  Providence  places  us,  "  there 
with  to  be  content,"  can  reconcile  a  white  menial 
to  his  condition  in  such  a  country  as  .ours.  The 
government  itself  can  only  be  secure  in  a  republic 
so  long  as  a  pure  Christianity  (for  that  only  can  do 
it)  operates  to  elevate  the  social  condition  of  those 
laboring  classes  who  would  otherwise  be  menials, 
or  reconcile  them  to  a  station  to  which  the  acci 
dent  of  birth,  miscarriage  in  business,  or  inferiority 
in  intellect,  inevitably  consigns  them  in  the  com 
petition  of  business  life ;  or  so  long  as  pure  religion 
shall  so  operate  as  to  leave  the  balance  of  political 
power  with  those  who  are  either  so  elevated  or  so 
reconciled  to  an  inferior  condition.  But  little,  if 
any  thing,  of  all  this,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  our 
colored  menials,  is  to  be  found  at  the  South.  Al 
ways  conscious  of  their  intellectual  inferiority  (I 
speak  of  the  masses)  from  constant  contact  with 
the  superior  moral  power  of  the  whites,  and  equally 
conscious  that  their  physical  condition  is  an  im 
passable  bar  to  all  social  equality  by  marriage, 
they  not  only  do  not  aspire  to  it  in  their  feelings, 
but,  in  all  cases  in  which  they  are  treated  as  the 
Scriptures  require  masters  to  treat  their  servants, 
they  learn  to  be  contented  with  their  lot,  and, 
looking  to  their  owners  as  their  lawful  and  safe 
protectors,  become  affectionately  attached  to  the 
whole  family,  and,  dismissing  all  care,  are  the  most 


224  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

cheerful  and,  indeed,  merry  class  of  people  we 
have  amongst  us.  A  slave  who  did  not  think 
more  of  himself,  and  feel  himself  to  be  better  off, 
in  all  respects,  than  the  state  which  agreed  with 
his  idea  of  what  he  calls  "  poor  white  folks"  and 
"free  niggers,"  really  would  not  be  worth  having 
as  a  house  servant  in  any  Christian  family  of  my 
acquaintance.  Indeed,  in  freedom  frora  care,  and 
all  the  elements  of  a  mere  temporal  happiness,  the 
slaves  of  an  enlightened  and  well-ordered  family 
are  often  in  a  much  more  desirable  situation  than 
the  heads  of  the  family,  who  are  occupied  with  the 
duty  of  caring  for  -  all  and  of  providing  for  all. 
For  the  master  of  such  a  family  to  plod  his  weary 
way  to  daily  labor  on  his  farm,  with  a  care-worn 
countenance,  which  traces  itself  in  his  slow  and 
measured  step,  whilst  the  loud  laugh  of  his  merry 
hearted  slaves  is  echoing  around  him,  is  no  uncom 
mon  thing  in  the  South.  As^  to  the  corrodhij 
cares  which  weigh  down  the  spirits  and  often  brin£ 
on  premature  old  age,  the  condition  of  heads  of 
families  do  not  perhaps  materially  differ  in  an} 
part  of  our  country.  But,  I  repeat,  the  dif 
ference  is  very  great  between  the  menials  of  fami 
lies  in  the  free  and  in  the  slave  States,  and 
this  difference  is  greatly  in  favor  of  the  slaves  of 
the  South.  The  one — especially  in  the  cities — is 
often  oppressed  by  a  grinding  poverty,  and  an 


OF    SLAVERY.  225 

active  discontent  which  is  as  corroding  to  the 
heart  as  it  is  dangerous  to  the  state ;  whilst  the 
other  is  a  stranger,  for  the  most  part,  to  real  want 
— is  free  from  painful  cares,  contented  and  cheer 
ful  in  his  condition — adding  daily  to  the  progress  of 
civilization  and  the  permanency  of  the  government. 
The  emancipation  and  removal  to  Africa  of  those 
whose  progress  in  civilization  has  so  far  developed 
their  minds  as  to  constitute  them  exceptions  to 
this  remark,  for  the  reason  that  they  are  by  their 
moral  condition  fitted  for  a  higher  form  of  civil 
freedom,  may  be  allowed  as  the  voluntary  act  of 
the  owner.  But  all  other  schemes  of  emancipa 
tion,  whether  immediate  or  gradual,  are  totally 
inadmissible.  For  if  successful,  for  the  reason 
that  they  cannot  share  social  equality  with  the 
whites,  they  sink  in  the  scale  of  civilization,  and 
become  a  nuisance  in  the  community  requiring 
abatement ;  and  if  the  scheme  should  prove  a  fail 
ure,  the  result  of  the  effort  can  only  be,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  accumulate  large  bodies  of  slaves 
within  small  districts  of  country,  cut  them  off 
from  a  more  direct  contact  with  civilization,  and 
arrest,  their  progress  in  improvement.  No  :  eman 
cipation  in  the  popular  sense  offers  no  relief  to  any 
of  the  evils,  real  or  imaginary,  of  African  slavery 
in  America ;  but  rather  aggravates  all  that  now 
exist,  and  threatens  to  multiply  them  a  thousand- 
10* 


226  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

fold.  If  any  in  the  whole  country  be  moved  with 
sympathy  for  the  race — as  many  think  themselves 
to  be — let  them  diffuse  the  charities  of  a  pure  gos 
pel  through  the  whole  extent  of  our  country.  No 
field  was  ever  more  "  white  to  the  harvest/'  and 
none  perhaps  in  which  laborers  could  be  employed 
to  greater  advantage  in  the  cause  of  humanity. 
They  will  promote  a  charity  which  shall  save  the 
country  from  discord  and  civil  war.  They  will 
give  efficiency  to  those  precepts  of  the  Scriptures 
which  enjoin  the  duties  of  masters  and  slaves. 
By  doing  this  they  will  lighten  the  task  of  mas 
ters,  and,  at  the  same  time,  interest  them  more 
deeply  in  all  that  concerns  the  welfare  of  the  slave. 
They  will  greatly  improve  the  physical  comfort  of 
the  slaves,  and,  what  is  of  far  greater  importance, 
they  will  develop  their  moral  natures,  and  therein 
add  to  their  present  cheerful  and  contented  state, 
the  enjoyment  of  that  religion  which,  as  it  fits 
them  for  the  higher  walks  of  life  on  earth,  at  the 
same  time  fits  them  for  the  rest  of  heaven.  In  a 
word,  they  will  effect  all  that  the  most  devoted 
friend  of  the  slave  can  reasonably  desire.  For  in 
this  state  of  advanced  progress,  whatever  modifi 
cation  of  the  system  or  change  in  either  the  con 
dition  or  location  of  the  race  may  be  demanded  by 
sound  principles,  will  be  readily  adopted,  and  as 
peaceably  effected.  Thus  the  long-disputed  prob- 


*;  .._ 

OF    SLAVERY.  227 

lem  of  emancipation  will  be  Found  to  solve  itself, 
But  instead  of  this  active  and  efficient  service  in 
the  cause  of  humanity,  to  stand  aloof  and  pro 
nounce  silly  and  sluggish  invectives — for  such 
they  really  are — against  the  South,  for  not  follow 
ing  the  example  of  certain  Northern  States  in 
manumitting  their  slaves, — which,  by  the  way,  we 
have  shown  they  never  did  to  any  material  ex 
tent, — is  calculated  only  to  produce  an  irritation 
which  must  result  in  the  most  incurable  preju 
dices.  These  invectives  are  often  founded  upon 
certain  abstract  principles  of  political  philosophy 
which  are  usually  misunderstood,  and  still  more 
frequently  misapplied  to  the  South.  Such  men, 
together  with  the  nature  and  results  of  their 
labors,  are  graphically  described  by  the  Apostle 
Paul,  as  "  proud,  knowing  nothing,  but  doting 
about  questions  and  strifes  of  words,  whereof 
cometh  envy,  strife,  railings,  evil-surmisings,  per 
verse  disputings  of  men  of  corrupt  minds,  and 
destitute  of  the  truth,  supposing  that  gain  is  god 
liness."  The  whole  paragraph  from  which  this 
quotation  is  made — 1  Tim.  vi.  1—5 — is  commended 
to  particular  attention.  And  I  submit,  that  if 
the  apostle  understood  the  subject  of  domestic 
slavery,  either  as  a  philosophical  or  a  practical 
question,  the  class  of  men  now  engaged  in  agitat 
ing  our  country  on  the  subject  do  not ! 


>,  :*:-'.'•' 

•  ,•'    , 


228  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PBACTICE 


LECTURE   XI. 


TEACHING  THE   SLATES   TO   READ   AND   WRITE. 

Superiors  frequently  neglect  inferiors — The  policy  of  the  South 
vindicated  by  necessity — The  results  that  would  follow  an 
attempt  to  establish  a  system  for  instructing  the  blacky  in 
letters,  and  those  which  would  follow  the  establishment  of  such 
a  system — The  domestic  element  of  the  system  of  slavery  in  the 
Southern  States  affords  the  means  for  their  improvement 
adapted  to  their  condition  and  the  circumstances  of  the  country: 
it  affords  the  natural,  the  safe,  and  the  effectual  means  of  the 
intellectual  arid  moral  elevation  of  the  race — The  prospects  of 
the  Africans  in  this  country,  and  their  final  removal  to  Africa — 
The  country  never  will  be  entirely  rid  of  them — The  Southern 
policy  wise  and  humane. 

ONE  point  remains  to  be  considered  to  complete 
a  full  and  candid  view  of  the  institution  of  domes 
tic  slavery. 

It  is  erroneously  said  that  "  we  keep  the  Afri 
can  in  a  state  of  barbarism,  and  then  plead  that 
barbarism  in  vindication  of  our  policy." 

Every  thing  is  liable  to  abuse.  I  know  that 
there  are  instances  in  the  South  of  great  neglect 


OF    SLAYEEY.  229 

of  the  slaves,  both  of  their  moral  and  physical 
condition.  The  same  may  be  said  of  individuals 
at  the  North.  Superiors  often  neglect  their  infe 
riors,  and  that,  in  many  instances,  to  a  very  cul 
pable  degree.  I  know  no  efficient  remedy  for 
this,  but  that  which  the  diffusion  of  a  pure  Chris 
tianity  is  calculated  to  afford.  If  any  complain 
of  these  neglects  in  a  captious  spirit,  we  have 
nothing  to  hope  from  them.  But  from  those  who 
claim  to  be  sincere,  we  have  a  right  to  expect  an 
active  and  hearty  cooperation  in  diffusing  Chris 
tianity,  as  the  only  thing  calculated  to  afford  a 
remedy. 

But  it  is  said  that  a  feature  of  the  system,  as 
established  by  law,  necessarily  produces  this  re 
sult :  that  is,  the  law  which  excludes  the  African 
from  the  benefits  of  school  instruction. 

The  term  necessarily  is  in  this  instance  certainly 
misapplied.  The  barbarism  iii  question  is  not  the 
result  of  this  law,  necessarily^  or  otherwise.  It 
existed  originally.  It  still  exists,  and  to  a  great 
extent,  though  greatly  modified ;  and  in  the  pre 
sent  circumstances  of  the  race,  an  authorized  sys 
tem  of  school  instruction  would  cause  it  to  con 
tinue  to  exist,  and  perhaps  in  a  much  greater 
degree  than  Tt  now  does,  and  for  a  longer  time 
than  it  promises  to  do  under  the  present  system. 
If  this  be  so,  it  is  the  semi-barbarism  that  creates 


230  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

the  necessity  for  the  law,  and  not  the  laio  that 
makes  the  barbarism  the  necessary  result. 

An  unwieldy  mass  of  semi-barbarism  dwelling 
in  the  midst  of  a  civilized  community,  with  whom 
they  cannot  amalgamate  by  intermarriage,  will,  at 
all  times,  require  a  peculiar  system  of  appliances 
for  their  improvement,  so  as  to  make  it  consistent 
with  the  common  welfare.  The  principle  of  sla 
very  must,  of  course,  be  kept  in  vigorous  opera 
tion,  and  the  means  of  improvement  be  wisely 
adapted  to  the  state  of  the  pupil.  Otherwise, 
there  may  not  only  be  a  very  improvident  expen 
diture  of  means,  but  the  most  disastrous  results. 
The  horn-book  might  be  a  valuable  agent  in  the 
hands  of  a  child,  but  the  instruments  and  agents 
in  a  chemical  laboratory  might  prove  its  ruin. 

Should  the  time  ever  arrive  (which  in  the 
opinion  of  some  will  be  the  case,  at  some  distant 
day)  when  the  progress  of  African  civilization  will 
justify  it ;  and  when  an  asylum  in  Africa  is  pro 
vided  for  them — together  with  the  means  of  their 
removal  in  large  numbers — I  have  no  doubt  that 
a  system  of  popular  education  would  not  only  be 
indicated  as  proper,  but  afford  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  fields  for  the  display  of  public  and  of 
individual  benevolence,  that  has  ever  yet  presented 
itself  in  behalf  of  that  degraded  race.  But  what 
I  have  to  say  of  this  hypothesis  is,  that  if  it  ever 


OF    SLAVERY.  231 

'  •'  *  -  i  V  -    ..'  •**•  •  •       . 

should,  the  generations — both  North  and  South — 
that  may  then  live,  I  have  no  doubt,  will  have 
both  sagacity  enough  to  perceive  it,  and  benevo 
lence  enough  to  improve  it  to  the  mutual  advan 
tage  of  themselves  and  the  African  race.  But  it 
is  very  evident  that  neither  of  these  conditions 
has  been  fulfilled  as  yet.  In  this  state  of  things, 
it  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  Southern  people 
are  prepared  for  any  enterprise  of  the  kind.  I 
cannot  imagine  that  any  public  movement,  having 
for  its  object  the  instruction  of  the  blacks  in  read 
ing  and  writing,  could  be  made  without  involving 
the  most  disastrous  results. 

Let  us  suppose  that  a  majority  in  our  legisla 
tive  councils  were  in  favor  of  such  a  measure,  and 
were  actually  to  tax  the  people  to  support  a  sys 
tem  of  primary  education  for  the  blacks  :  any  man 
would  certainly  be  excessively  stupid  who  would 
not  allow  that  a  minority  would,  at  all  times,  (in 
the  present  state  of  public  experience,)  exist,  who 
deemed  the  law  sufficiently  oppressive  to  justify 
repudiation  and  physical  resistance.  If  this  object 
were  sought  to  be  accomplished  by  individual 
enterprise,  the  results  could  scarcely  be  less  em 
barrassing.  This  will  readily  appear ;  for  it  would 
have  to  be  effected  either  in  the  common  schools 
of  the  country,  or  by  the  establishment  of  sepa 
rate  schools  for  the  Africans.  But  I  am  not 


232  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

aware  that  the  former  is  allowed  to  any  material 
extent  even  in  the  free  States,  where  certainly, 
if  the  scheme  were  practicable,  the  free  blacks 
might  be  educated  in  the  same  schools  with  the 
whites.  The  usage  of  civilization,  which  denies 
them  a  social  footing  in  so  many  other  respects, 
must,  of  course,  so  far  deny  them  this  privilege 
as  to  render  the  scheme  mainly  ineffectual  in  the 
accomplishment  of  good,  or  the  usage  is  singularly 
inconsistent  with  itself. 

And  can  it  be  supposed  that  such  a  scheme 
would  operate  better  in  the  South,  where  the 
reasons  against  it  are  a  thousand-fold  stronger, 
growing  out  of  the  large  number  of  the  African 
population?  Certainly  nothing  could  be  more 
Utopian  than  an  enterprise  of  this  kind.  Public 
opinion  would  scarcely  be  sufficiently  divided  to 
justify  even  the  wildest  schemer  in  making  a 
serious  attempt  to  effect  it.  The  latter  plan  might 
perhaps  be  attempted,  but,  on  account  of  the  evils 
it  would  involve,  it  would  still  be  subject  to  im 
passable  objections. 

Slaves,  though  not  owned  by  the  poor,  are  held 
for  the  most  part  by  farmers  and  planters  whose 
pecuniary  circumstances  are  what  is  called  mode 
rate.  There  are  exceptions.  Occasionally,  they 
are  held  by  men  of  wealth;  but  in  the  oldei 
States  particularly,  (and  of  these  I  speak  from 


i  *•.•. 
.• .  •    •  * 


OF    SLAVERY.  233 

personal  knowledge,)  the  great  mass  of  those  who 
own  them  cannot  be  said,  in  any  popular  sense  of 
'  the  term,  to  be  rich.  Now,  the  habits  of  half- 
labor,  as  any  Northern  man  would  regard  them, 
in  which  the  slaves  are  usually  indulged,  would 
put  it  quite  out  of  the  power  of  most  of  slave 
owners  to  afford  the  necessary  support  for  such 
schools,  however  favorable  they  might  be  to  the 
scheme.  Withal,  there  is  but  little  if  any  room 
to  doubt  that  a  great  many,  both  among  the  rich 
as  well  as  the  poor,  would  oppose  the  measure, 
for  what  appeared  to  them  reasons  of  sounoT 
policy.  This  would  leave  the  scheme  to  be  sup 
ported  entirely  by  the  few  rich  men,  whose  benev 
olence  might  lead  them  to  overlook  the  strong 
popular  objections  against  it.  It  requires  no  par 
ticular  sagacity  to  foresee  the  practical  mischiefs 
which  would  attend  the  efforts  of  a  few  rich  men 
who  might  attempt  to  override  the  popular  feeling 
on  a  subject  of  this  kind.  Public  opinion  would 
put  it  down !  This  would  be  the  end  of  it  in  one 
direction,  but  not  in  another. 

The  whole  movement  would  be  attended,  from 
first  to  last,  with  an  irritation  of  the  public  mind 
in  the  highest  degree  unfavorable,  and,  indeed, 
dangerous  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the 
commonwealth.  All  irritations  of  the  public  mind 
in  regard  to  the  blacks,  it  is  well  known,  result 


234  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

injuriously  to  them,  generally  abridging  them  of 
their  civil  privileges  and  social  comforts.  In  this 
instance,  viewing  the  subject  as  a  practical  ques 
tion,  I  cannot  see  that  it  would  be  attended  with 
a  single  redeeming  virtue,  so  far  as  the  blacks  are 
concerned.  But  to  place  it  in  the  most  favorable 
light,  let  us  suppose  that,  by  some  means,  one  or 
the  other  of  these  plans  had  actually  gone  into 
operation — which,  by  the  way,  can  scarcely  be 
conceived  to  be  possible  in  the  present  state  of 
society — and  had  already  made  a  decided  impres 
sion  upon  the  public  mind  of  the  Africans.  Even 
in  this  case  it  would  still  be  liable  to  strong  and 
impassable  objections.  It  would  be  educating 
them  in  advance  of  their  circumstances  and  pro 
spects.  In  their  circumstances,  it  would  be  even 
more  objectionable  than  it  could  be  to  take  the 
time  and  labor  of  a  white  youth,  which  (we  wiU 
also  suppose)  were  required  for  the  immediate 
support  of  himself  and  of  those  depending  upon 
his  labor,  and  educate  him  for  the  learned  pur 
suits  of  a  Newton  or  a  Macaulay,  whilst  at  the 
same  time,  for  causes  beyond  his  control,  he  was 
doomed  for  the  remainder  of  his  days  to  work  in 
the  mines  of  Cornwall  or  Chesterfield,  by  the  light 
of  Sir  Humphrey  Davy's  lamp !  No  one  of  the 
important  objects  of  so  high  an  education  is  acces 
sible  to  him.  The  least  part  of  the  objection  to 


OP    SLAVERY,.-:,,''  235 

such  a  course  as  this  is,  that  it  would  be  a  use 
less  expenditure  of  time  and  labor. 

But  the  reason  is  much  stronger  in  the  case  of 
the  African.  The  civil  offices  are  all  closed  against 
him.  No  one  of  the  learned  professions  is  open  to 
him.  The  law  of  caste  which  forbids  his  amal 
gamation  bars  him  out  from  every  thing  of  the 
kind.  He  is  doomed  to  occupy,  so  long  as  he 
remains  in  the  midst  of  a  white  community,  the 
position  of  an  inferior.  God  himself  has  so  ordered 
it.  The  bold  line  of  distinction  he  has  drawn 
between  the  races,  is  fully  declarative  of  his  will. 
He  only  can  reverse  the  decree,  "  The  Ethiopian 
cannot  change  his  skin,"  any  more  than  "  the 
leopard  can  change  his  spots."  In  this  state  of 
facts,  would  not  the  public  mind — whose  decisions 
must  be  authoritative  in  the  settlement  of  such  a 
question — very  naturally  inquire  for  the  good 
that  it  was  thought  might  result  from  so  material 
a  change  in  the  circumstances  of  the  institution  ? 
And  is  it  not  obvious  that  no  answer  could  be 
given  that  would  insure  satisfaction  ?  No  power 
of  eloquence  with  which  it  is  competent  to  enforce 
the  claims  of  education,  could  possibly  move  the 
public  mind  from  the  sober  conviction  that  the 
advantages  and  privileges  of  education,  so  neces 
sary  to  a  state  of  civil  liberty,  and  so  appropriate 
in  other  respects  to  that  state,  could  not,  with  any 


'*••-    *•      * -. 
236  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

degree  of  propriety,  be  demanded  in  behalf  of  a 
necessary  condition  of  slavery  ! 

Thus  far,  the  principles  of  political  economy, 
alone  considered,  would,  in  the  public  estimation, 
fully  settle  this  question.  But  this  is  not  all 
The  question  has  much  graver  aspects  than  money 
can  possibly  give  it.  The  effect  of  generally  en 
listing  the  African  mind  in  literary  pursuits  and 
inquiries,  is  too  obvious  either  to  be  overlooked 
or  slightly  regarded.  A  state  of  popular  dis 
quietude  must  inevitably  result,  and  this,  too,  at 
a  time  when  the  door  of  Providence  remains  effec 
tually  closed  against  his  release  from  slavery  and 
his  removal  to  Africa.  This  disquietude  could  not 
fail  to  lead  to  many  fanatical  and  fruitless  attempts 
to  effect  a  change  in  the  political  condition  of  the 
race.  Such  a  state  of  popular  solicitude  among 
the  blacks  would  of  course  be  followed  by  much 
greater  solicitude  and  even  irritation  on  the  part 
of  the  whites.  So  potent  a  cause  would  certainly 
precipitate  its  appropriate  results.  The  oppressive 
and,  in  some  respects,  the  savage  laws  by  which 
ancient  Sparta,  Greece,  and  Rome  governed  their 
slaves — some  of  whom  were  highly  educated  men 
— would  of  necessity  be  reenacted  in  this  country. 
Our  present  mild  form  of  slavery  would  be  substi 
tuted  by  a  form  of  oppression  unknown  to  the 
history  of  this  country,  even  in  the  most  barbar- 


OF    SLAVERY.  237 

ous  condition  of  the  African  race.  And  thus 
would  end  the  chapter  of  abolition  benevolence  in 
behalf  of  the  African  race  in  the  United  States. 

In  view  of  these  considerations,  the  policy  of 
the  South  on  this  subject,  allow  me  to  affirm,  is 
founded  no  less  in  benevolence  to  the  African  and 
the  peace  of  the  commonwealth,  than  in  the 
soundest  principles  of  political  economy.  It  relies 
upon  the  domestic  element  of  the  system  of  slavery, 
as  the  natural,  the  only  safe,  and  ultimately  the 
effectual  means  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  eleva 
tion  of  the  African — so  far  as  any  means  can  be 
effectual  in  the  accomplishment  of  that  object. 

1.  It  is  the  natural  way — that  is,  the  way 
adapted  to  their  condition  as  an  inferior  and  natur 
ally  distinct  race,  who,  both  on  account  of  the 
physical  facts  which  constitute  them  a  distinct 
race,  and  the  low  state  of  civilization  (if  it  may  be 
called  civilization  at  all)  which  they  have  yet  been 
able  to  attain,  should  not  be  admitted  to  a  social 
footing  by  intermarriage  with  the  superior  race. 

In  a  former  lecture,  it  was  demonstrated  that 
an  uncivilized  race,  dwelling  in  the  midst  of  a  civil 
ized  community,  had  no  right  to  social  equality, 
and,  for  a  still  stronger  reason,  no  right  to  political 
sovereignty  in  such  a  community.  It  was  also 
shown  that  their  natural  rights  entitled  them  to 
protection,  and  reasonable  provision  for  their  im- 


238  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

provement,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  minors,  to  such 
"authoritative  control"  as  is  best  calculated  to 
preserve  their  power  of  self-action — their  power 
of  volition — from  that  enslavement  to  the  baser 
passions  of  depraved  nature,  which  is  destructive 
of  all  true  liberty,  and  the  most  degraded  and 
ruinous  form  of  slavery — subjection  to  the  devil; 
in  comparison  with  which,  a  physical  subjection  to 
a  fellow-man,  in  civilized  life,  with  a  power,  defined 
by  law,  only  to  control  his  time  and  labor  to  a 
reasonable  extent,  is  a  paradise.  These — we  of 
the  South  say — are  their  natural  rights — the  good 
to  which  they  are  entitled  in  virtue  of  their 
humanity.  Now  as  these  rights  are  in  their 
nature  relative,  they  imply  the  duty  on  the  part 
of  the  civilized  race  amongst  whom,  in  the  provi 
dence  of  God,  they  dwell,  to  afford  them  both  the 
protection  and  control  in  question.  Their  DUTY,  in 
these  respects,  is  clearly  reciprocal  with  the  rights 
of  the  Africans.  They  can  no  more  omit  these 
duties  to  the  blacks  with  impunity,  than  they  can 
do  so  to  the  minors  and  imbeciles  of  their  own 
race.  Now  what  form  of  control  will  more  natur 
ally  or  appropriately  fulfil  the  conditions  of  this 
problem  ?  They  are  to  exercise  the  sovereign  con 
trol  :  all  political  freedom  is  denied  the  blacks  by 
their  condition.  They  have  no  right  to  it.  It  is 
not,  to  them,  the  essential  good.  Their  rights  lie, 


OP    SLAVERY.  239 

as  in  the  case  of  imbeciles  of  any  other  race,  in 
being  governed,  not  in  governing  themselves,  in 
those  matters  which  constitute  the  objects  of  civil 
government.  To  exercise  this  sovereign  control 
of  the  blacks,  and  at  the  same  time  afford  them 
the  protection  and  improvement  which  are  appro 
priate  to  a  necessary  condition  of  slavery,  or  state 
of  subjection  to  such  sovereign  control,  is  the 
solemn  duty  of  the  superior  race.  The  position 
here  advocated  is,  that  the  domestic  element  of  the 
present  system  in  operation  amongst  us,  affords  a 
more  perfect  guaranty  that  all  the  conditions  of 
this  problem  will  be  fulfilled,  than  could  be  effected 
by  any  other  system,  or  by  the  proposed  modifi 
cation  of  the  present  system.  The  element  in 
question  constitutes  for  them  an  invaluable  school 
of  instruction — a  school  in  which  both  the  mental 
and  moral  nature  is  developed.  A  school  for  the 
formal  instruction  of  the  blacks  in  letters,  we  have 
seen  would  operate  only  to  defeat  the  end  proposed 
by  its  establishment.  To  govern  and  protect 
them,  and  at  the  same  time  make  them  useful  to 
themselves  and  to  society,  by  a  system  of  military 
police,  could  find  but  few  if  any  advocates,  even 
among  the  visionary.  But  what  more  natural 
than  to  accomplish  all  these  objects,  by  a  system 
which  distributes  them  in  small  numbers  through 
the  different  families  of  civilized  life  ?  Here  thoy 


24.0  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

are  brought  into  immediate  connection  with  much 
that  is  calculated  to  develop  the  mind,  cultivate 
the  moral  sense,  and  train  the  will  to  the  habit  of 
obedience  to  its  high  behests.  The  law  confers 
upon  the  head  of  the  family  the  same  right  to 
direct  and  appropriate  the  time  and  labor  of  the 
blacks,  that  he  enjoys  in  the  case  of  his  children — 
and  no  more.  The  period  of  time  to  which  this 
authority  extends,  differs  in  the  one  case  from 
that  of  the  other ;  but  this  is  the  only  difference 
known  to  the  law.  Great  abuses  of  this  authority 
sometimes  occur  in  the  case  of  the  blacks  ;  but  the 
same  is  occasionally  true  of  parental  authority  in 
all  parts  of  the  civilized  world.  The  former  may 
furnish  a  fit  theme  for  the  perverted  genius  of 
Mrs.  Harriet  Stowe.  The  fruit  of  such  a  genius 
may  have  a  poetry — of  its  kind ;  but  it  can  lay 
claim  to  neither  philosophy  nor  common  sense. 
The  same  force  of  logic  which  is  hurled  against 
the  authority  of  the  master,  rakes  the  authority 
of  the  parent  in  the  line  of  its  fire,  with  an  effect 
no  less  destructive.  Both  are  equally  necessary ; 
both  are  equally  protected  by  law ;  ^and  both  are 
open  to  great  abuses.  The  poetry  which  invests 
these  abuses  with  the  show  of  argument  against 
the  authority  of  the  master  may  cater  to  the  cor 
rupt  taste  of  both  the  "great  vulgar"  and  the 
"little  vulgar;"  but  it  is  the  same  cormorant 


OF    SLAVERY.  ''  ;.  >     241 

appetite  which  is  fed,  that  leads  the  mere  "  readers 
and  cipherers"  of  the  land  to  turn  aside  from 
those  valuable  productions  so  appropriate  to  their 
real  wants,  and  delight  themselves  in  tragic  stories 
of  murder,  arson,  and  rape,  from  the  perusal  of 
which  they  rise  with  passions  inflamed  to  crusade 
against  the  morals  of  society.  Christianity  sternly 
rebukes  the  abuses  complained  of;  and  equally 
condemns  that  perversion  of  genius  which  employs 
those  abuses  to  corrupt  the  public  taste  and  the 
public  morals.  As  far  as  Christianity  prevails,  the 
civil  law  which  requires  humanity  in  the  exercise 
of  domestic  authority,  no  less  in  the  case  of  the 
slave  than  in  the  case  of  the  child  or  the  apprentice, 
is  sanctioned,  and,  in  cases  demanding  it,  is  duly 
enforced  by  public  opinion  and  sentiment.  In  all 
communities  in  which  Christianity  is  the  presiding 
influence,  African  slavery  must,  therefore,  be  a 
mild  form  of  domestic  servitude.  It  even  contri 
butes  in  a  measure  to  a  knowledge  of  letters. 
Many  servants  are  raised  by  their  associations 
with  civilized  life  to  a  desire  to  read  the  word  of 
God.  The  domestic  relation  often  supplies  them 
with  the  means  of  gratifying  this  desire.  Many 
pious  slaves  read  the  word  of  God  as  a  part  of 
their  family  worship ;  and  instances  are  not  want 
ing  of  those  of  whom  it  may  be  said,  they  "are 
mighty  in  the  Scriptures."  Such  are  the  ten- 


242  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

dencies  and  capabilities  of  domestic  slavery  as  a 
system  recognized  by  law ;  and  apart  from  those 
abuses  which  all  good  men  deplore — no  less  in  the 
case  of  the  slave  than  in  the  case  of  the  child  and 
the  apprentice,  who  are  no  further  protected  from 
inhumanity  by  the  provisions  of  law  than  is  the 
slave.  Hence  this  system  is  the  natural  way  of 
protecting,  improving,  and  governing  the  African 
for  the  mutual  benefit  of  society.  It  is  evidently 
indicated  by  Providence.  No  other  can  be  appro 
priate  to  a  mass  of  population  who  can  never  be 
politically  free  in  our  midst,  for  the  reason  that, 
in  the  order  of  Divine  Providence,  they  never  can 
amalgamate  with  us.  But  it  is, 

2.  The  only  safe  way. 

It  is  slow,  it  is  true,  but  it  is  for  that  reason 
only  the  more  safe.  Its  effects  are,  for  the  most 
part,  without  observation.  Hence,  it  produces  no 
irritation  of  the  public  mind.  It  develops  the  law 
of  sympathy  on  both  sides  in  the  ratio  in  which 
it  unfolds  the  intellectual  and  moral  nature  of  the 
subordinate  race.  It  raises  no  visionary  and 
fanatical  hopes  in  the  one,  nor  excites  any  mor 
bid  fears  in  the  other.  I  say,  its  results  march 
forward  without  observation.  A  revenue  tariff, 
for  example,  affords  a  full  support  to  the  govern 
ment  by  a  virtual  tax  upon  the  pockets  of  the 
people ;  and  it  does  this  at  a  time  when  they 

.'•.*!  /*'->:<'-•  *.;•,•'>£•' A  v  ":  •  ••' 


OF    SLAVERY.  243 

•would  not  for  a  moment  consent  to  pay  that  tax, 
if  it  were  made  a  direct  tax,  to  be  collected  by  the 
authority  of  an  exciseman.  So,  without  observa 
tion,  the  domestic  element  of  slavery  is  accom 
plishing  its  results,  with  equal  safety.  Or,  more 
in  point,  perhaps,  it  is  like  the  "  kingdom  of 
heaven,"  which  "  comes  without  observation." 
The  "  kingdom  of  heaven,"  in  the  form  of  princi 
ples,  diffuses  itself  through  the  mass  of  society, 
and  ultimately  works,  as  a  legitimate  result,  the 
boldest  political  revolutions.  But  by  diffusing  it 
self  quietly,  or  "  without  observation,"  it  prepares 
the  public  mind  for  its  changes  in  the  exact  ratio 
in  which  it  effects  them ;  and  thus  accomplishes 
that,  by  the  popular  will,  the  attempt  to  do  which 
in  another  way  would  have  razed  the  founda 
tions  of  civil  society,  and  closed  the  history  of 
civilization  for  ages  to  come.  So,  this  divine 
agent — for  such  I  must  consider  it — is  working 
constant  changes.  It  is  daily  modifying  the  fea 
tures  of  the  system,  and  so  developing  the  moral 
character  of  the  African,  as  to  throw  him  up,  by 
successive  steps,  higher  and  still  higher  on  the 
scale  of  civilization.  But  this  it  does  so  quietly, 
because  naturally,  that  it  actually  works  a  specific 
result  on  the  masters,  and  accomplishes  its  objects 
by  the  consent  of  their  wills  and  their  own  active 
cooperation. 


. •         - 
244  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

*         'i'*»    '•  »•  •      '  '•*'.''"  •»*•'  /'•">*!   *,'.   :'." 

All  this,  we  see,  is  effected  with  entire  safety. 
Even  in  those  instances — and  they  are  numerous 
— in  which  the  working  of  the  domestic  element 
of  the  system  results  in  teaching  the  African  to 
read,  we  are  not  aware  that  it  involves,  or  even 
threatens,  society,  with  any  of  those  evils  which 
it  is  so  obvious  a  more  formal  system  of  school 
instruction  would  precipitate.  Slaves  who  are 
below  a  certain  point  in  civilization,  cannot  be 
induced,  by  any  of  the  influences  employed  by 
young  masters  and  mistresses,  (and  they  are  often 
specific,)  to  deal  with  the  task  of  learning  to  read. 
Only  those  who  are  so  far  raised  in  the  scale  of 
civilization  as  to  have  awakened  in  them  a  hal 
lowed  desire  to  learn  more  of  the  will  of  God,  and 
their  duty  as  Christians,  ever  avail -themselves  of 
the  opportunities  afforded  them  by  their  domestic 
relations,  and  learn  to  read.  These  devote  a  por 
tion  of  their  spare  hours  to  reading  the  Bible ;  and 
a  pious  African,  who  reads  his  Bible,  is  always 
known  and  appreciated  as  a  better  servant,  as 
well  as  a  better  man.  He  enjoys  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  his  owner,  and  is  highly  appreciated 
by  all  the  family.  I  have  often  known  the  prayer 
of  such  a  slave  to  be  more  relied  on  in  times  of 
domestic  affliction  than  that  of  any  minister  whose 
services  could  be  commanded. 

But,  more  than  this,  the  results  which  have 


OF    SLAVERY.  245 

been  brought  to  view  are  not  only  effected  with 
safety,  but  also  with  a  high  degree  of  satisfaction 
to  the  owners.  Everywhere  families  may  be  met 
with,  who  will  call  your  attention  with  hallowed 
satisfaction  to  what  they  have  done  for  the  im 
provement  or  comfort  of  their  slaves.  But  it  will 
be  found  that  this  very  good  is  just  such  that  if 
you  had  attempted  to  effect  it  by  other  means 
than  the  quiet  influences  of  the  domestic  element 
of  this  system,  you  would,  by  a  universal  law 
of  our  nature — self-preservation — have  converted 
each  of  those  families  into  a  kind  of  Roman 
amphitheatre,  and  made  the  unhappy  slaves  the 
chief  victims  of  your  rashness.  Hence,  it  is  not 
without  the  gravest  reasons  that  the  intelligence 
of  the  South  rebukes  the  fanatical  spirit  of  abo 
litionists,  with  the  most  solemn  assurances  that 
they  know  not  the  things  whereof  they  speak, 
when  they  urge  upon  the  Southern  people  the 
duty  of  schooling  and  emancipating  their  slaves. 

3.  But  I  also  affirm  that  the  feature  of  the  sys 
tem  under  consideration  will  ultimately  effect  the 
moral  elevation  of  the  African,  so  far  as  any  means 
can  be  effectual  in  the  accomplishment  of  this 
object,  whilst  he  remains  in  the  bosom  of  a  com 
munity  with  which  he  cannot  be  admitted  to  a 
social  footing. 


246  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

So  unobserved  is  the  influence  of  this  element, 
tint  I  find  but  few,  even  among  intelligent  and 
practical  men,  who,  before  their  attention  is  par 
ticularly  called  to  the  subject,  are  aware  of  what 
it  has  already  effected.  But  in  numerous  public 
addresses  in  the  States  of  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina,  I  have  appealed  to  the  oldest  and  most 
observant  men  in  large  assemblies,  and  in  no  in 
stance  have  I  met  with  a  single  individual  who 
did  not  concur  in  my  statement  that  the  present 
i  ace  of  Africans  were  very  materially  improved, 
both  in  their  moral  and  physical  condition,  above 
what  they  were  some  twenty  or  forty  years  ago, 
and  that  the  change  has  been  much  greater  with 
the  slaves  than  with  the  free  colored  population. 
Now,  it  is  obvious  that  this  improvement  will  con 
tinue  to  go  on,  and  in  an  increasing  ratio.  On 
the  same  principle  that  labor  applied  to  capital 
is  productive  in  an  increasing  ratio,  the  means  in 
operation  for  the  improvement  of  the  African  will 
greatly  accelerate  his  progress.  Hence,  some 
future  period  will  present  a  generation  of  Africans 
highly  improved  above  what  they  are  now.  Con 
sequently,  there  will  arrive,  at  some  distant  day, 
a  period  at  which  this  people  will  have  reached 
that  point  of  moral  progress  at  wrhich  they  will  be 
capable  of  appreciating,  and,  in  a  suitable  physical 


OF    SLAVERY.  247 

condition,  adapting  them  to  social  equality r,  will  be 
prepared  to  occupy  and  wisely  improve,  the  privi 
leges  of  civil  liberty. 

It  is  on  this  principle  that  the  laws  of  all  civil 
ized  States  confer  the  privilege  of  political  free 
dom  on  the  descendants  of  their  free  citizens.  At 
the  age  of  twenty-one,  they  are  made  politically 
free.  The  law  assumes,  what  is  found  generally 
to  be  true,  that  previously  to  this  period  they  are 
incapable  of  using  this  privilege  to  the  advantage 
of  themselves  and  of  the  community ;  but  that,  at 
this  age,  their  capacities  are  sufficiently  developed 
to  make  a  proper  use  of  this  privilege ;  and  as 
neither  their  physical  condition  nor  any  accidents 
of  their  position  operate  as  a  bar  to  their  social 
equality  with  other  free  citizens,  it  is  conferred  on 
them.  By  analogy,  therefore,  we  may  infer,  that 
when  the  African  in  America  shall  have  reached 
a  similar  moral  state,  and  when  his  physical  con 
dition  and  the  accidents  of  his  position  shall  fit 
him  for  social  equality  with  other  free  citizens, 
a  similar  right  of  political  freedom  will  inure  to 
him.  It  will  be  to  him  the  right — that  is,  the  good 
— which  ought  to  be  allowed  him.  To  withhold 
it  would  be  despotism.  Now,  the  former  con 
dition  of  this  problem,  his  moral  state  in  this 
country  at  some  future  day  may  fulfil ;  but  that 
the  latter  can  never  be  fulfilled  in  this  country  is 


-» 

' 


248  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

obvious  from  the  facts  and  reasonings  already 
adduced.  But  when  in  future  time  his  state  shall 
fulfil  the  first  condition,  it  is  a  grave  question 
which  we  may  safely  anticipate,  whether  it  will 
not  be  the  duty  of  the  superior  race  amongst 
whom  the  Africans  now  dwell,  to  remove  them  to 
a  land  where  they  can  enjoy  social  equality.  We 
hazard  nothing  in  deciding  this  question  in  the 
affirmative.  Rights  and  duties  are  reciprocal. 
Then  whatever  it  shall  be  the  right  of  the  African 
to  claim  of  their  superiors,  it  will  be  their  duty  to 
•  „ ',  confer.  That  they  w^ould  be  entitled  to  removal 
in  large  numbers,  will  appear — >1.  They  will  have 
contributed  largely  to  develop  the  resources  of 
the  country,  as  the  price  of  their  civilization.  2. 
It  would  be  to  them  the  good,  without  which 
their  civilization  could  but  partially  avail  them. 
Hence,  it  would  be  the  duty  of  their  superiors  to 
remove  them  in  such  numbers  as  their  means  of 
doing  so  might  allow.  But  more  than  this,  it  would 
be  a  duty  which  they  owed  themselves,  even  if 
they  were  under  no  obligations  to  the  inferior 
race.  For  when  a  numerous  population  in  oar 
midst,  though  confessedly  inferior,  shall  arise  to 
the  moral  condition  defined,  the  difficulties  attend 
ing  their  longer  continuance  in  a  state  of  slavery, 
domestic  or  otherwise,  "will  be  far  too  great  to 
justify  the  experiment. 


OF    SLAVERY.  249 

Hence  I  have  long  thought  that  there  was  usu 
ally  a  very  unnecessary  expenditure  of  sympathy 
on  behalf  of  certain  enslaved  nations  of  Europe,  as 
well  as  the  African  of  this  country.  A  nation,  the 
masses  of  whom  have  arisen  to  the  moral  condition 
of  freedom,  will  assert  their  political  rights ;  and 
they  will  usually  do  it  on  practicable  grounds.  It 
is  only  at  this  point  that  they  challenge  public 
sympathy.  For  the  mind  was  never  before  suffi 
ciently  free  to  make  their  situation  an  oppressive 
one,  assuming  that  their  rulers  do  not  abuse  their 
power.  Before  this  period,  their  rights  lay  in 
being  governed — not  in  governing.  Political  free 
dom  would  be  as  dangerous  intrusted  to  them,  as 
a  razor  would  be  in  the  hands  of  a  child,  and 
should,  for  the  same  general  reasons,  be  withheld 
from  them.  But  withheld  by  whom?  asks  the 
philosophy  of  Dr.  Wayland.  I  answer,  By  those 
who  have  the  intelligence  to  do  it.  Both  the 
principle  of  benevolence  and  the  law  of  recipro 
city  require  this ;  and  that  intelligence  which  im 
poses  this  duty,  can  never  fail  to  supply  the  means 
for  the  restraint  of  brute  force. 

Of  the  truth  of  this  general  position  no  people 
appear  to  be  more  sensible  than  the  aristocracy  of 
Europe.  De  Tocqueville  clearly  asserts  this  on 
their  behalf,  when  he  states  that  the  object  of  his 
tour  through  the  United  States  arose  from  the 
11* 


250  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

necessity  of  becoming  acquainted  with  the  spirit 
and  character  of  democracy,  that  a  proper  direc 
tion  might  be  given  to  it  in  Europe.  To  direct  it 
wisely  might  be  done ;  but  to  crush  it  was  utterly 
impossible.  Now  if  this  author  be  correct  in  sup 
posing  that  the  spirit  of  democracy  is  truly  awake 
among  the  masses  of  European  population,  and 
that  consequently  they  are  asserting  their  right  to 
freedom — not  from  the  abuse  of  legitimate  power, 
which  calls  for  reform  merely,  but  from  the  power 
itself,  which  their  improved  moral  and  social  con 
dition  has  rendered  no  longer  appropriate,  and 
which,  therefore,  they  now  sensibly  feel  to  be  an 
oppression,  calling  for  revolution — they  are  follow 
ing  the  indications  of  nature,  and  there  is  no  power 
in  those  nations  that  can  shut  the  door  of  Provi 
dence  against  them.  An  obedient  child  will  cheer 
fully  submit  to  the  reasonable  though  stringent 
despotism  exercised  over  him  by  his  parent,  and 
even  look  back  upon  it  in  after  life  with  the  highest 
pleasure.  Nevertheless,  on  reaching  his  maturity, 
he  will  refuse  to  submit  to  it  any  longer,  and  even 
feel  an  attempt  to  force  it  upon  him  as  an  oppres 
sion  too  intolerable  to  be  borne.  So,  by  parity  of 
reasoning,  will  the  masses  of  these  nations  demand 
an  entire  abolition  of  the  existing  modes  of  govern 
ment,  and  claim  such  as  are  adapted  to  their  state 
of  maturity.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the 


:  .V';  •:— *->^v>  ••/•••..-.. 

OF    SLAVERY.  251 

',,»-     ..  •  •  -"  "  "•* 

movements  in  question  are  the  work  of  only  a  few 
master-spirits  who  have  mistaken  the  actual  con 
dition  of  the  masses,  who  have  not  yet  risen  to 
the  moral  condition  of  freedom,  they  will  be  found 
to  be  fighting  against  God.  The  door  of  his  provi 
dence  is  closed  against  them.  There  are  no  means 
in  the  compass  of  their  power  by  which  they  can 
force  an  entrance  through  this  door.  They  may 
shed  oceans  of  blood,  but  it  shall  not  avail.  So? 
in  the  former  case,  the  aristocracy  may  exhaust 
alike  their  treasures  and  their  diplomatic  resources, 
but  it  can  only  be  to  fill  the  land  with  desolation 
and  mourning.  The  enlightened  popular  mind 
and  will  must  prevail.  "Verily,"  a  premature 
resistance  in  either  case  "has  its  reward" — great, 
suffering,  and  a  vast  accumulation  of  guilt,  but  not 
success. 

These  principles  are  not  without  their  applica 
tion  to  the  Africans  in  this  country.  Should  the 
remote  period  arrive  when  the  state  of  the  Afri 
cans  fulfils  the  first  condition  of  the  problem  laid 
down,  they  will  certainly  feel  their  political  condi 
tion  in  this  country  to  be  an  oppressive  one,  and, 
if  necessary,  assert  their  right  to  remove.  I  say, 
assert  their  right  to  remove;  for  in  the  mental 
condition  assumed,  they  would  have  far  too  much 
good  sense  to  do  what  many  less  qualified  to  judge 
than  they  would  then  be  have  done — ask  for  poll- 


- 

252  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

fc.J'.  '."'•-    ."•    •  *•*    '"'  • »':' .  ,*••    " 

tical  equality  amongst  a  people  with  whom  they 
could  never  be  on  a  footing  of  social  equality.  I 
am  equally  satisfied  that  they  would  be  under  no 
necessity  to  ask  this.  The  intelligence  and  virtue, 
no  less  than  the  interest,  of  that  age,  will  forestall 
such  a  necessity,  by  the  measures  which  justice 
and  humanity  will  dictate  as  proper  to  meet  the 
circumstances  of  the  case. 

For  my  own  part,  I  have  no  doubt  that,  under 
that  wise  superintending  Providence  which  has  so 
signally  marked  the  progress  of  African  civiliza 
tion,  by  introducing  so  large  a  portion  of  the  race 
into  this  country,  that  distant  day,  when  it  arrives, 
will  provide  for  itself.  Anxious  solicitude  on  the 
part  of  the  present  age  is  not  demanded.  Neither 
the  intelligence  nor  the  benevolence  of  that  remote 
age  will  be  unequal  to  the  task  of  providing  for 
the  necessities  of  its  times.  Already,  indeed, 
"  coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before."  The 
elements  have  been  long  combining,  both  to  usher 
in  and  to  dispose  of  those  events.  The  domestic 
element  of  slavery  is,  as  we  have  seen,  quietly 
and  effectually  doing  its  work.  God  is  raising  up 
a  yast  government  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  which 
promises  to  reach  a  respectable  station  among  the 
civilized  nations  of  the  earth — in  moral  and  physi 
cal  resources.  In  the  progress  of  events,  there  is 
no  ground  to  doubt  that  the  abolition  spirit,  abroad 


OF    SLAVERY. 


25b 


in  so  large  a  portion  of  our  country,  will  have  had 
its  day,  and  run  its  course  through  all  the  usual 
stages  and  phases  of  fanaticism,  and,  giving  place 
to  a  sounder -philanthropy  and  a  purer  benevolence, 
those  who  now  advocate  it  will  be  prepared  to 
unite  with  the  philosophy  of  the  South,  and  avail 
ing  themselves  of  the  vast  resources  of  this  great 
country,  and  of  those  of  the  new  government  in 
Africa,  will  transport  large  numbers  to  a  com 
munity  in  which  their  social  equality  will  enable 
them  to  enjoy  the  freedom  for  which  they  were 
fitted  in  this  country.  Many  of  those  who  remain 
will,  no  doubt,  amalgamate  with  the  whites,  how 
ever  it  may  be  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  civiliza 
tion.  Those  barriers  which  free-soilism  is  now 
erecting  on  our  Southern  border,  will  ultimately 
yield  to  a  sounder  policy,  and  many  of  our  slaves 
will  find  their  way  to  the  remote  South,  where  the 
state  of  civilization  will  admit  of  a  more  general 
amalgamation,  and  be  lost  in  the  Mexican  races ; 
whilst  the  remainder — perhaps  a  large  number — 
will  continue  in  the  United  States,  but  in  a  highly 
improved  condition,  and  under  a  form  of  civil 
government  which  will  not  be  felt  by  them  as  a 
political  oppression,  and  continue  to  bless  the 
country.  I  have  no  idea  that  the  race  will  ever 
become  extinct  in  this  country,  or  cease  to  exist 
under  a  subordinate  government  of  some  kind. 


254  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

I  would  not  claim  entire  accuracy  for  these 
views  of  the  distant  future ;  but  of  their  general 
accuracy  I  have  no  doubt.  Future  history  will, 
doubtless,  challenge  the  gratitude  of  the  Christian 
world  for  that  wonderful  providence  by  which  the 
residence  of  the  African  in  this  country  was  made 
as  the  sojourn  of  Joseph  in  Egypt.  As  God  sent 
him  before  his  brethren  "  to  preserve  life/'  so  it 
will  be  found  that  he  permitted  the  introduction 
of  the  pagan  African  into  this  country,  that  he 
might  be  raised  by  contact  with  civilization,  re 
deemed  by  the  genius  of  the  gospel,  and  returned 
to  bless  his  kindred  and  his  country.  Thus  all 
Africa  shall,  sooner  or  later,  share  the  blessings 
of  civilization  and  religion.  I  am  not  able  to  see 
any  thing  that  can  or  will  embarrass  the  progress 
of  this  great  work,  but  the  spirit  of  a  premature 
abolition.  The  doctrines  of  emancipation  and 
school  instruction  may  keep  up  an  irritated  state 
of  the  public  mind,  that  must  act  as  a  serious 
check  to  the  civilizing  tendencies  of  the  domestic 
element  of  the  system ;  for  the  long-continued 
agitation  of  these  questions  may  excite  fanatical 
aspirants  to  attempt  to  pass  limits  which  God  has 
declared  to  be  impassable — that  is,  to  procure 
political  freedom  for  a  people  who  are  not  prepared 
for  it,  and  that  in  the  midst  of  another  people  with 
whom  they  can  never  generally  amalgamate.  All 


•••..•  y.  ?  -         '."*..-••       .     :.."•• 

OF    SLAVERY.  255 

•  •  '  'j  /->'i       •.* .  .      <^.  J  *  •  ' ' " 

attempts  of  this  sort,  it  is  well  known,  are  ex 
tremely  hurtful  to  the  progress  of  the  African  in 
civilization.  Every  consideration,  therefore,  of 
policy  and  of  humanity  forbids  that  these  doctrines 
should  receive  the  slightest  encouragement  from 
an  enlightened  people.  The  race  is  not  prepared 
for  the  operation  of  either  of  these  schemes.  No 
better  evidence  need  be  required  by  those  not 
personally  acquainted  with  the  character  of  the 
Africans,  than  the  fact  that  they  have  never  once 
attempted  to  assert  a  right  to  political  freedom. 
The  fact  that,  nowhere  throughout  the  Southern 
States,  can  it  be  said  of  even  a  respectable  minor 
ity  of  the  race,  that  they  have  given  the  slightest 
indication  of  such  a  disposition,  is  proof  that  they 
have  not  yet  risen  to  that  mental  state,  and  hence 
are  not  entitled  to  the  political  privileges  which 
are  appropriate  to  it.  It  is  vain  to  point  to  the 
few  attempts  at  local  insurrection  which  have 
occurred.  The  highest  conception  which  the 
masses  have  ever  yet  formed  of  political  freedom 
is  simply  liberty  to  do  nothing.  To  win  this  cher 
ished  object  of  barbarism — not  of  civilization — a 
bare  handful,  on  a  few  occasions,  have  concocted 
plans  as  hopeless  as  the  spirit  in  which  they  were 
conceived  was  barbarian,  and  as  visionary  as  the 
dreams  of  Miller  that  he  could  make  an  intelli 
gent  Christian  people  believe  his  vagaries ;  or  the 


256  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

leaders  of  the  Mormon  folly  and  wickedness,  that 
they  could  impose  their  grossly  stupid  imposture 
upon  the  civilized  world. 

In  view,  therefore,  of  these  facts  and  reasonings, 
we  conclude  that  the  Southern  people  are  not 
obnoxious  to  the  charge  of  keeping  the  Africans 
in  a  state  of  barbarism,  by  their  policy,  either  on 
the  subject  of  emancipation  or  of  school  instruc 
tion  ;  but  that  they  are  following  the  indications 
of  Divine  Providence,  and  serving  the  cause  of 
humanity  in  the  civilization  of  the  African  in 
America,  and  the  redemption  of  his  fatherland. 


OP    SLAVEEY.  257 


LECTURE    XII. 

»'''"•  ^  "'•*"" 

THE    CONSERVATIVE   INFLUENCE    OF   THE   AFRICAN    POPU 
LATION   OF   THE   SOUTH. 

'./^ 

Preliminary  remarks  —  American  party  —  The  present  and  pro 
spective  condition  of  our  country  —  The  large  number  of  voters 
in  the  free-soil  States  who  will  be  under  a  foreign  influence, 
political  and  religious,  inducing  them  to  discard  the  Bible  and 
the  right  of  private  judgment  —  The  freedom  of  the  Southern 
States  from  this  anti-Christian  and  anti-republican  influence  — 
The  presence  of  the  African  race  in  the  Southern  States  secures 
them  this  advantage  —  The  unpatriotic  policy  of  free-soilism 

WE  have  seen  that  nowhere  throughout  the 
South  have  the  masses  of  our  African  population 
given  evidence  of  the  first  intelligent  conception 
of  political  freedom.  As  to  insurrections,  we  are 
freer  from  their  disturbing  influences  than  are  the 
communities  of  many  of  the  Northern  States  from 
the  progress  of  a  no  less  dangerous  influence  —  the 
agrarian  spirit  which  pervades  a  somewhat  similar 
portion  of  society.  We  of  the  South  fear  them 
less  ;  and  we  have  less  cause  to  fear  them.  On 


258 


PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 


this  score  they  make  a  useless  expenditure  of 
sympathy  on  our  behalf.  It  may  be  demon 
strated  that,  without  a  singular  interposition  of 
Divine  Providence,  the  South  (using  the  term,  as 
I  generally  do,  for  all  those  States  which  main 
tain  the  system  of  domestic  slavery)  will,  ere 
long,  be  called  upon  to  protect  the  liberties  of  the 
North  from  the  progress  of  agrarianism,  whilst 
there  is  not  the  remotest  probability  that  these 
will  ever  be  called  on  to  protect  the  South  from 
the  insurrectionary  movements  of  their  blacks. 
I  repeat  —  no  !  no  people  in  the  whole  country 
who  fill  the  menial  offices  of  society  are  more 
contented  than  our  blacks,  or  as  much  so. 
There  are  none  who  less  feel  their  condition  to  be 
oppressive,  or  who  have  as  little  cause  to  feel  it  so. 
In  discussing  the  proposition  enunciated,  it  is 
proper  to  premise,  that  if  I  should  be  found  to 
agree  to  any  extent  with  the  "American  party," 
whose  "  councils"  are  now  attracting  so  much 
attention,  as  to  the  accumulation  of  a  dangerous 
influence  in  the  country,  I  find  the  chief  remedy 
(whatever  may  or  may  not  be  true  of  those  pro 
posed  by  this  party)  in  a  providential  arrange 
ment  which  seems  not  so  much  to  have  engaged 
|public  attention. 

*    I   propose   to   submit   a   brief  sketch   of    the 
present  and  prospective  condition  of  our  country. 


OF    SLAVERY.  259 

*>*    v:         i*    f     «  '  '  "      t  /      ^  *«^*  •     %  '   "-     *    •    "  V-1"       *  i.* 

We  live  in  a  country  of  vast  geographical  ex 
tent.  A  large  portion  of  it  is  uninhabited.  It  is, 
however,  rapidly  filling  up.  Immigrants  from, 
every  section  of  the  civilized  world  are  rapidly 
arriving  in  our  eastern  cities,  and  spreading  to 
remote  sections  of  our  republic :  men  of  every 
conceivable  variety  of  taste,  disposition,  and  opin 
ion,  both  in  politics  and  in  religion.  The  fertility 
and  abundance  of  our  soil,  and  the  variety  of  our 
staple  articles  of  produce,  have  attracted  universal 
activity  and  enterprise.  To  compare  the  civilized 
world  to  one  vast  city,  our  republic  seems  destined 
to  become  the  great  market  or  business-street  of 
it.  Here,  all  is  bustle  and  activity.  Nowhere  on 
the  face  of  the  globe  is  so  much  energy  of  charac 
ter  displayed.  No  attentive  observer  can  fail  to 
perceive  the  tendency  of  all  this  to  call  off  the 
mind  from  those  moral  and  intellectual  pursuits 
that  so  eminently  fit  men  for  the  sober  duties  of 
life  and  the  felicities  of  heaven.  The  public  mind 
is  already  kept  in  a  state  of  most  unnatural  ex 
citement,  stimulated  in  the  highest  degree  to  the 
pursuits  of  wealth  and  political  distinction,  to  the 
almost  entire  neglect  of  every  other  interest. 
This  is  daily  becoming  the  supreme  attraction,  to 
which  the  popular  impulse  yields  as  readily  as  the 
unfortunate  ship  obeys  the  resistless  circles  of  the 
maelstrom. 


A'.. 


260  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

Thus  far,  it  is  true,  we  have  succeeded  to  "  lay 
that  broad  foundation  of  modern  society  which 
promises  the  noble  superstructure  of  rational 
liberty.  But  regarding  the  tendencies  of  this 
restless  people,  looking  at  the  growth  of  our  own 
improvidence,  and  at  the  copious  additions  which 
overstocked  and  perishing  Europe  is  daily  sending 
us,  in  multiplied  forms  of  ignorance  and  super 
stition,  insomuch  that  in  many  respects  in  our 
Northern  States  our  republican  fabric  is  fast 
changing  and  passing  away  before  our  very  eyes? 
who  can  exult  in  the  certainty  of  success  !  Who 
will  not  despair,  except  so  far  as  he  may  be 
sanguine  that  a  tone  and  energy  of  moral  effort 
is  put  forth,  equal  to  that  which  achieved  our 
national  liberties  !  For  if  this  be  not  done,  in  a 
day  we  may  go  down  into  hopeless  bondage  ! 
The  physical  battle  of  our  liberties  has  been 
fought  and  won,  and  we  are  fast  rushing  up  to 
unparalleled  eminence ;  but  from  this  dizzy 
height,  if  we  be  not  sustained  by  some  conserva 
tive  power,  we  shall  go  down  in  a  moment  to  the 
degradation  of  slavery.  For  let  it  be  remem 
bered  that  whilst  liberty  may  be  achieved  by  the 
sword,  it  cannot  be  maintained  by  the  sword. 
Enlightened  principles  and  moral  excellence  alone 
can  maintain  the  liberty  that  force  achieves." 

I  say  nothing  of  that  large   class    of  foreign 


OF    SLAVERY.  261 

*"  ^     •  •'"         <     '^^  .     *  '      *•          *  *  r     **»•"'     **     *  *4  "*     ^^  * 

f  -  >^<  ..          -V      ^  .  £*,^     •  \*  -*•  '  •*  *' 

population  whose  education  and  pecuniary  re 
sources  enable  them  to  come  among  us  from  a 
choice  of  our  institutions,  and  the  other  means  of 
happiness  which  this  great  country  affords.  1 
bid  them  all  welcome.  They  add  alike  to  the 
permanency  and  strength  of  our  institutions. 
Nor  do  I  say  any  thing  against  that  unfortunate 
multitude  which  accompanies  these,  whose  igno 
rance  and  vice  compel  them,  reluctantly  or  not, 
to  seek  their  bread  in  our  fruitful  country.  So 
far  as  we  may  be  able  to  receive  them,  I  rejoice 
that  we  have  a  home  for  them.  But  it  is  obvious 
that  our  safety  can  be  found  only  in  our  ability 
to  absorb  them  into  our  political  body,  and  impart 
our  character  to  them;  and  in  those  providential 
arrangements  which  shall  sustain  us  through  the 
protracted  process.  Without  these,  there  is  no 
ground  to  hope  for  success.  For  what  power  is 
that  which  (in  the  language  of  another)  "has 
been  fitly  styled  the  'terror  of  Europe' — the 
power  that  has  sent  earthquake  after  earthquake, 
rolling  under  the  deep  foundations  of  governments, 
till  they  have  rocked  to  their  basis,  and  tottered, 
to  their  fall  ?  It  is  the  order,  or  rather  the  mass 
of  vicious  ignorance  and  poverty  which  has  there 
accumulated  for  ages."  This  maniac  power  must 
continue  to  work  its  extended  desolations  in 
Europe,  except  so  far  as  it  may  be  enervated  by 


262  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

expanding  on  the  wilderness  of  North  America. 
It  is  fortunate  for  Europe  that  this  enfeebling 
process  is  rapidly  going  forward ;  but  it  is  most 
unfortunate  for  us  that  we  are  destined  soon  to 
concentrate  a  power  which  Europe  is  so  happily 
expanding.  We  are  destined,  ere  long,  to  become 
a  great  manufacturing,  as  well  as  commercial  and 
agricultural  people.  Our  condition  is  soon  to  con 
dense  millions  into  cities  and  manufacturing  dis 
tricts,  where,  as  in  Europe,  from  the  class  of 
population  flowing  in  upon  us,  a  distinct  class  of 
menial  poverty  will  be  formed,  "  imbecile  of  mind, 
and  inapt  but  for  one  employment."* 

Nor  is  this  all.  It  lays  no  claim  to  prophetic 
honor  to  venture  the  prediction,  that  the  youth  of 
our  country  who  shall  survive  the  next  half  cen 
tury,  will  witness  that  which  many  will  not  be 
lieve,  "  though  a  man  declare  it  unto  them." 
But  reasoning  from  the  past,  or  from  well-estab 
lished  principles  of  political  economy,  it  is  morally 
certain  that  our  present  population  of  twenty- 
three  millions  will  then  have  swelled  to  near  one 
hundred  millions.  " Agriculture,  commerce,  and 
manufactures  will  have  expanded  their  resources 

;." 

*  Some  years  ago,  a  pamphlet  fell  into  my  hands,  written  by 
some  one  whose  name,  if  I  ever  knew  it,  I  have  forgotten.  I 
think  it  likely  that  this  language,  or  much  of  it,  is  to  be  credited 

to  that  pamphlet. 

v      l  ''  *  <       " 


._.••«     • 

CNV"--"^;^?*.^: 


OF    SLAVERY.  263 

and  powers  of  production  to  an  inconceivable  ex 
tent.  The  various  portions  of  our  country  will 
be  linked  together  by  railroads,  canals,"  telegraphic 
wires,  and  by  some  other — God  knows  what ! — 
as  yet  undiscovered  means  of  connection.  Al 
ready,  the  cities  of  our  Atlantic  coast  converse 
freely,  by  means  of  "lightning  post-boys,"  with 
their  next-door  neighbors — the  cities  of  the  great 
Mississippi  valley  !  "  Flourishing  cities  are  now 
lifting  their  spires  in  the  hitherto  pathless  wilds 
of  Iowa,  Oregon,"  and  California,  and  will  soon  be 
in  telegraphic  connection  with  those  of  the  East. 
Who  can  doubt  that  in  less  than  ten  years  the 
prediction  of  an  eminent  son  of  Virginia,  J.  E. 
Heath,  Esq.,  will  be  verified :  "American  steam 
ships  from  the  cities  of  our  Western  coast  shall 
strike  off  in  the  path  of  the  setting  sun,  and  fol 
lowing  that  burning  luminary  where  he  dips  his 
glowing  axle  in  the  waters  of  the  Pacific,  return 
in  the  short  space  of  thirty  or  forty  days,  laden 
with  the  commerce  and  population  of  China,  and 
the  isles  of  the  remotest  West  !"* 

Can  any  man  doubt  the  political  and  commercial 
changes  that  will  then  follow  throughout  the  civil 
ized  world  ?  But  who  can  estimate  the  extent  of 
these  changes  ?  Who  can  tell  the  result  upon  the 

*  Literary  Messenger. 


•  -    ..  „   •  ,  -    ..>•_,,•:,   .'\f;  '  ••»..-      -"-  -»• .;-  .« .  '/;*..'. 

261  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PEACTICE 

political  and  moral  destiny  of  this  great  country  ? 
Who  can  tell  the  end  of  that  commercial  revolu 
tion  by  which  a  large  portion  of  the  tea  trade  of 
China,  now  in  the  hands  of  that  greatest  of  all 
monopolies — the  British  East  India  Company,  con 
tributing  largely  to  the  support  of  the  British 
government — shall  be  transferred  to  American 
bottoms,  and  flow  into  this  country  through  our 
cities  on  the  Pacific  coast !  Already  the  walls  of 
pagan  China  have  bowed  to  the  thunder  of  British 
cannon,  and  the  deep  foundations  of  her  ancient 
government  are  destined  at  no  distant  day  to 
yield  alike  to  American  enterprise  and  American 
liberty.  Thousands  of  her  perishing  population — 
indeed,  already  they  come  ! — shall,  ere  long,  flow 
in  from  the  West,  and  meet  the  vast  tide  of  papal 
superstition  and  vice  that  has  been  long  setting 
in  from  Europe  on  the  east.  I  am  free  to  own 
that  I  contemplate  this  period  with  profound 
amazement !  I  know  not  the  extent  of  the  vision 
that  confounds  me.  And  when  I  turn  my  eyes  to 
the  canvas  of  Divine  inspiration,  and  decipher  its 
unerring  pencillings,  I  cannot  doubt  that  the 
strange  elements  that  even  now  are  so  rapidly 
combining,  and  that  are  soon  to  concentrate  the 
maddened  powers  of  pagan  ignorance,  and  papal 
superstition  and  vice,  in  the  heart  of  this  republic, 
are,  ere  long,  to  make  my  native  land  the  great 

:-1^?r;f^ 

'" '  ' 


OF    SLAVERY. 

theatre  of  those  eventful  battles — the  conflicts  of 
truth  and  error  in  both  politics  and  religion — so 
graphically  described  in  the  apocalyptic  vision  of 
John.  And  as  I  believe  in  the  truth  of  the  pro 
phecy,  and  confide  in  the  promise  of  Heaven,  I 
cannot  doubt  the  result.  But  mark  you,  "the 
peril  of  our  condition — the  peril  of  that  state  of 
things  on  which  our  children  may  be  but  just 
entering !"  This  conflict  is  to  be  the  more  or  less 
fierce,  the  more  or  less  disastrous  to  those  who 
^hall  immediately  sustain  its  calamities,  as  they 
^hall  be  the  more  or  less  prepared  for  it.  And 
what  are  the  great  agencies  that  shall  prepare  us 
for  a  successful  conflict  ?  What  is  it  that  shall  give 
comparative  mildness  to  this  great  moral  and  per 
haps  physical  conflict  that  awaits  our  children,  or 
the  want  of  which  shall  arm  it  with  all  the  terrors 
of  a  barbarous  warfare  ?  But  one  answer  can  be 
given  to  these  questions.  The  general  education 
of  the  sovereigns  of  the  land,  and  the  conservative 
influence  of  our  institutions,  or  perdition,  is  the 
alternative. 

Upon  the  importance  of  the  great  educational 
movement  of  the  country,  I  need  not  remark  just 
now ;  nor  need  we  notice  in  this  connection  the 
conservative  influence  of  our  free  institutions,  or 
rather  the  tendency  of  the  great  principle  of  lib 
erty,  (as  embodied  in  our  civil  and  religious  insti 
ls 


266  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

tutions,)  which,  with  all  true  Americans,  is  a  kind 
of  instinctive  belief,  to  diffuse  itself  through  the 
mass  of  society.  The  two  together  may  justly  be 
regarded  as  forming  a  bulwark  of  American  liberty, 
upon  which  the  intelligent  mind  of  the  country  may 
repose  with  great  confidence.  But  still,  history 
scarcely  leaves  us  room  to  doubt  that  a  politico-TQ\i- 
gious  priesthood,  firmly  established  in  the  supersti 
tious  devotions  of  a  strong  minority  even  of  menials, 
who  at  the  same  time  are  political  sovereigns,  pre 
sents  fearful  odds  in  the  strife  of  principles  with 
the  "  man  of  sin."  Nor  need  we  be  surprised  at 
this.  A  large  mass  of  our  population — however 
they  may  constitute  but  a  minority  of  the  whole 
population — have  been  educated  from  their  cradles 
in  the  firm  belief  that  it  is  a  sin,  involving  the 
damnation  of  the  soul,  to  read  God's  word,  or 
to  exercise  private  judgment  upon  any  matters 
which  such  a  priesthood  may  chooae  to  affirm  are 
taught  therein,  and  who  are  equally  established  in 
a  superstitious  opinion  and  feeling  of  devotion  and 
submission,  not  only  to  its  right  to  decide  all 
such  matters,  but  also  its  authority  to  punish 
with  the  highest  spiritual  torments  all  who  shall 
heretically  disregard  its  decisions.  This  power  has 
proved  itself  an  overmatch  for  the  genius  of  liberty 
.  in  the  states  of  Europe.  Thrones  and  kingdoms 
have  fallen  before  it.  To  this  day  the  despots  of 


OP    SLAVERY.  267 

Europe  hold  their  sceptres  in  virtue  of  a  league 
with  it.  Louis  Napoleon  exercises  despotic 
sway  over  a  large  portion  of  as  free  a  people 
in  their  opinions  and  sentiments  on  all  sub 
jects  without  the  range  of  priestly  dictation  and 
dogmatism  as  can  be  found  on  the  globe.  But 
how  does  he  do  it  ?  He  crushed  the  measures  of 
liberty  in  Italy,  and  restored  the  Pope  to  his 
throne.  And  why  ?  Not  only  because  a  republic 
in  Italy  would  be  a  dangerous  neighbor,  but  also 
because  he  needed  the  authority  of  the  priesthood 
to  enforce  the  politico-religious  dogmas  upon  which 
alone  his  despotic  throne  could  repose  with  safety ! 
Thus  a  large  community  who  are  among  the  most 
enlightened  and  devoted  friends  of  liberty,  are 
ruled  by  a  grinding  despotism ;  and  this  is  only 
an  instance  in  which  the  genius  of  liberty  is 
crushed  and  trodden  under  foot  by  the  "  man  of 
sin."  Education  and  the  genius  of  liberty  have 
done  much  in  Europe,  and  are  daily  struggling 
against  fearful  odds ;  and  may  do  much  more  in 
this  country  to  modify  and  restrain  this  power, 
but  they  are  impotent  to  its  destruction.  It  is, 
in  itself,  so  entirely  contradictory  of  all  liberty, 
and  at  the  same  time  so  full  of  vitality,  that  God  in 
mercy  has  only  relieved  the  despair  of  the  world 
by  the  assurance  that  he  would  destroy  it.  Thus 
Paul  says :  "The  man  of  sin,  who  opposeth  and 


268  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

earalteth  himself  above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that 
is  worshipped;  so  that  he,  as  God,  sitteth  in  the  temple 
of  God,  showing  himself  that  he  is  God — WHOM  THE 

L()RD  SHALL  CONSUME  WITH  THE  SPIRIT  OF  HIS  MOUTH, 
AND  SHALL  DESTROY  WITH  THE  BRIGHTNESS  OF  HIS  COM 
ING."  2  Thess.  ii.  1-12.  The  world  has  no  hope 
of  relief  from  the  oppression  of  this  nightmare  of 
superstition,  but  that  which  is  found  in  this  promise 
of  God,  that  the  word  of  his  truth  shall  overthrow 
and  utterly  destroy  this  monster  power,  which  for 
so  many  ages  has  been  the  terror  and  the  scourge 
of  the  civilized  world.  The  Bible — the  word  of 
God — freely  circulated,  read,  and  expounded,  and 
freely  judged  of  by  all  who  read  or  hear,  according 
k>  the  dictates  of  their  own  judgments  and  con 
sciences — this  is  the  religion  of  Protestants !  in 
exact  antagonism  to  the  teachings  of  the  "  man  of 
vin"  The  triumph  of  the  Bible  is  the  overthrow 
of  his  power. 

Now,  the  Bible  is  not  only  being  circulated,  and 
its  truths  enforced  from  the  pulpit,  but  a  great 
many  arrangements  of  Divine  Providence  are  in 
constant  operation,  not  only  to  secure  the  preva 
lence  of  Bible  truths  in  our  land,  but  also  to  place 
these  truths  in  such  circumstances  as  shall  secure 
the  permanent  establishment  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  Of  these  arrangements  of  Divine  Provi 
dence,  we  may  select  as  germane  to  the  general 


OF    SLAVERY.  269 

subject  of  discussion,  the  conservative  influence  of 
the  system  of  domestic  slavery. 

That  providence  of  God,  by  which  so  large  a 
number  of  the  States  of  this  Union  have  been  . 
supplied  with  a  population  who  cannot  be  absorbed 
by  the  body  politic,  but  must  exist  among  us,  and 
for  so  long  a  time,  in  a  distinct  and  menial  posi 
tion,  provided  the  means  of  safety  to  the  whole 
Union  in  the  coming  conflict  which  is  already 
awakening  the  fears  of  the  country.  If  we  do 
not  greatly  mistake  the  signs  of  the  times,  it  is  to 
these  States  that  all  eyes  and  all  hopes  will  be 
turned  as  the  great  bulwarks  of  American  liberty. 
The  African  race  in  these  States  will  give  them 
this  advantage  of  position. 

Review  the  facts  of  the  case.  As  to  that  class 
of  population  coming  into  the  country  with  that 
liberty  of  choice  which  intelligence  and  pecuniary 
means  afford  them,  the  whole  land  is  before  them, 
and  few  are  more  welcome  than  they,  whatever 
may  be  their  errors  in  religion.  But  relatively, 
they  make  but  a  small  portion  of  the  whole  num 
ber.  The  great  mass  of  this  coming  population 
necessarily  seek  the  menial  offices  of  society  as 
the  only  means  of  living.  This  evil  is  already 
sorely  felt  in  some  portions  of  our  country ;  and 
as  our  unoccupied  lands  shall  be  filled  up  by 
Western  as  well  as  Eastern  immigration,  this  will 


270  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

be  still  more  generally  and  deeply  felt.  For  all 
these  are  absorbed  by  the  body  politic,  and  form 
a  part  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  country. 

But  what  portion  of  our  country  is  it  which 
now  suffers,  and  is  chiefly  threatened  in  future 
with  this  heavy  calamity  ?  Not  the  South  !  This 
is  evident.  Our  menial  offices  are  already  occu 
pied  by  a  race  which  cannot  be  absorbed,  and  who 
therefore  can  never  form  a  part  of  the  sovereignty 
of  the  country.  Hence,  there  is  no  room  for  the 
menials  of  either  Europe  or  China.  The  dooi  of 
Providence  is  closed  against  their  admission.  The 
foreign  population  which  finds  its  way  into  the 
South  are,  for  the  most  part,  a  valued  and  wel 
come  class  of  society.  No  :  it  is  in  the  midst  of 
the  Northern  States,  and  those  new  States  which 
repudiate  the  African  race,  that  these  shoals  of 
vice,  superstition,  and  ignorance — these  hordes  of 
modern  Canaanites — are  gathering,  "  thick  as  the 
frogs  and  flies  of  Egypt."  Upon  these  States, 
and  not  upon  the  South,  this  great  and  increasing 
calamity  is  to  display  its  strength.  Are  they 
destined  to  control  the  primary  schools  to  a  great 
extent,  from  which  they  exclude  the  Bible,  and 
educate  a  large  mass  of  the  population  to  abandon 
the  inherent  right  of  private  judgment  *on  all 
matters  which  the  priesthood  may  please  to  define 
— whether  correctly  or  not — as  matters  of  re- 


OF    SLAVERY.  271 

iigion:  that  is,  to  abandon  those  rights  of  con 
science  which  are  guaranteed  to  every  citizen  by 
the  constitution  of  our  country  ?  Already,  many 
of  these  schools  are  thus  controlled,  and  a  large 
portion  of  the  citizens  are  thus  being  educated  in 
the  city  and  State  of  New  York,  and  other  places  ! 
But  nothing  of  this  sort  can  exist  to  any  extent 
in  the  Southern  States.  So  far  as  popular  educa 
tion  is  promoted  in  these  States,  it  must  be 
strictly  Protestant  education — Protestant,  at  least, 
in  its  main  feature :  that  is,  every  citizen  brought 
up  among  us  grows  up  in  the  educated  belief  that, 
whatever  aid  he  may  seek  or  derive  from  a  gospel 
ministry,  he  is  still  individually  and  personally 
responsible  to  God  and  his  country,  for  his  opin 
ions  and  his  practices,  both  as  to  politics  and  re 
ligion.  He  should,  therefore,  read,  reflect,  and 
judge  for  himself.  No  "  man  of  sin,"  in  the 
shape  of  pope,  bishop,  priest,  minister,  or  preacher 
of  the  gospel,  or  with  any  other  title,  has  author 
ity  to  "  oppose  and  exalt  himself  above  all  that  is 
called  God,  or  that  is  worshipped,'  by  dispensing 
either  political  or  religious  beliefs ;  "  so  that  he,  as 
God,  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  shoiving  himself* 
that  he  is  God :"  enforcing  his  right  to  control  the 
consciences  of  men,  by  severe  spiritual  and  tem 
poral  penalties  —  reaching  even  to  "  anathema 
maranatha  /"  No  material  portion  of  Southern 


%    .  ;  v  , 

•-.       -.  T      -. 


272     v*      PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

sovereigns  can  ever  grow  up  in  such  an  utter 
abandonment  of  all  liberty,  whilst  the  African  race 
shall  fill  the  menial  offices  of  society.  All  this, 
however,  and  perhaps  much  more,  is  reserved  for 
those  States  which  repudiate  this  race.  And 
still  further,  Is  all  this  calculated  to  corrupt  the 
purity  of  elections,  as  it  has  done  in  many  sections 
of  New  England  and  the  State  of  New  York,  and 
eminently  so  in  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Cin 
cinnati  ? — and  is  this  evil  also  destined  to  reach 
the  national  Legislature,  either  directly,  as  the 
result  of  numerical  strength,  or  indirectly,  as  the 
action  of  a  powerful  minority,  holding  the  balance 
of  power  between  contending  political  parties, 
and,  in  either  case,  sooner  or  later,  seriously 
threatening  if  not  precipitating  evils  upon  the 
whole  country,  of  which  the  oppressions  of  many 
of  the  States  of  Europe  now  furnish  us  the  mourn 
ful  examples  !  But  no  such  influence  can  ever 
reach,  to  any  material  extent,  the  ballot-boxes  of 
the  South.  With  an  educated  sovereignty,  we 
have  only  to  consummate  our  triumph  over  intem 
perance,  and  our  elections  are  at  once  fair  expo 
nents  of  the  will  of  an  enlightened  people.  Our 
people  may  err  in  opinion,  but,  always  right  in 
sentiment,  and  with  no  motive  to  stay  wrong,  they 
may,  in  due  time,  be  put  right  in  opinion  also. 
The  Southern  States  may  be  labored  by  the 


OF    SLAVERY.  273 

tempests  that  shall  break  upon  them  from  other 
sources,  but  not  from  this,  which  its  history  in 
Europe  shows  to  be  the  most  terrible  calamity 
that  ever  scourged  humanity.  With  their  ships 
well  trimmed  and  their  sails  well  set,  and  both 
worked  and  governed  by  an  educated  sovereignty, 
it  is  morally  impossible  that  they  should  founder 
in  the  open  sea  of  free  discussion.  These  States, 
therefore,  will  remain,  and  shall  ever  remain, 
through  all  this  fierce  conflict,  free  to  settle  the 
great  quarrel  of  the  country  between  light  and 
darkness,  between  religion  and  a  vile  superstition ! 
Upon  these  States  will  devolve  the  duty  of  hold 
ing  the  balance  of  power  between  these  great  con 
tending  forces,  and  of  preserving  the  ark  of 
American  liberty  in  the  politico-religious  storms 
that  are  to  sweep  over  the  land,  and  shake  the 
foundations  of  our  confederacy. 

In  view  of  all  the  facts,  we  are  at  no  loss  to 
account  for  the  agrarian  doctrines  and  organiza 
tions  which  are  already  so  common  in  the  North 
ern  States,  and  which  are  essentially  so  entirely 
subversive  of  all  true  liberty.  Nor  are  we  at  a 
loss  to  account  for  the  fact  that  the  Southern 
States  have  always,  to  the  present  time,  stood 
forth  as  the  authors  and  uniform  expounders  of 
the  soundest  democratic  principles  of  republican 
freedom.  They  owe  it,  and  will  for  ages  to  come 
12* 


274  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

continue  to  owe  it,  not  so  much  to  any  superior 
devotion  to  sound  principles  above  that  of  their 
intelligent  and  unbiased  brethren  of  other  States, 
but  to  the  fact  that  only  a  small  portion  of  their 
menial  population  are,  or  ever  can  be,  sovereigns. 
The  great  mass  of  their  menials  belong  to  a  dis 
tinct  and  inferior  race,  who  never  can  be  absorbed, 
ind  who,  therefore,  are  not  and  never  can  become 
sovereigns  of  the  land.  The  conservative  influ 
ence,  therefore,  of  the  African  race  in  the  South 
ern  States,  I  set  down  as  a  fixed  fact,  for  which, 
in  the  prospective  condition  of  the  country,  we 
have  abundant  cause  to  be  devoutly  thankful  to 
Almighty  God. 

In  view,  therefore,  of  the  condition  of  the  Afri 
cans  themselves,  as  well  as  the  calamities  which 
overhang  the  country,  how  idly  do  they  talk  who 
would  expel  the  Africans  from  these  States  !  How 
madly  do  they  reason  who,  by  a  cordon  of  free- 
soil  States,  on  the  West  and  South,  would  shut 
up  the  Southern  States — as  if,  with  bolts  and 
bars,  they  would  cage  a  savage  beast !  False 
philosophers !  Enemies  alike  to  justice  and  hu 
manity  !  Worse  than  Nadab  and  Abihu,  in  the 
republic  of  Moses !  Kindred  to  Ahithophel  and 
Judas,  and,  in  later  days,  to  Benedict  Arnold! 
The  day  will  come — passing  events  cast  their  long 
"  shadows  before" — when  history  will  record  the 


OF    SLAVERY.  276 

civilization  of  all  Africa,  and  the  final  solution  of 
the  problem,  and  the  permanent  establishment  oi 
American  liberty.  A  sound  philosophy  will  be  at 
no  loss  to  trace  both  one  and  the  other  to  the 
agency,  and  that  in  no  small  degree,  of  that  won 
derful  scheme  of  Divine  Providence,  by  which  so 
large  a  number  of  Africans  were  introduced  into 
so  many  of  the  States  of  North  America.  Ay  ! 
and  long  before  that  day,  the  North  will  learn  to 
do  justice  to  their  brethren  of  the  South.  When 
the  fight  shall  wax  warm,  and  the  "battle-cry" 
shall  be  heard  throughout  all  their  coasts,  then 
will  it  be  seen  and  acknowledged  that  the  Southern 
States — always  great  in  the  counsels  of  the  nation 
— are  always,  and  everywhere,  the  true  friends 
and  invincible  supporters  of  Protestant  freedom, 
or  the  rights  of  conscience ;  and  then  shall  they 
do  justice  to  these  States  as  the  chief  bulwarks  of 
American  liberty,  and  equal  honor  to  that  wonder 
ful  providence  which  has  so  signally  marked  their 
history,  for  good  to  the  whole  country,  as  well  as 
to  the  continent  of  Africa. 


276  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 


LECTURE    XIII. 

THE   DUTY   OF   MASTERS  TO   SLAVES. 

"  Masters,  give  unto  your  servants  ((Joii/loff ,  slaves)  that  which  is  just  and  equal, 
knowing  that  ye  also  have  a  Master  in  heaven." — COL.  iv.  1. 

The  duty  of  masters  and  the  rights  of  slaves  reciprocal. 
9  ^:,'L  The  duty  of  masters  to  their  slaves  considered  as  ''their 
.    "   -c  money" — in   regard  to  working,  resting,  feeding,  clothing, 

housing,  and  the  employment  of  persons  over  them ;  also  to 

the  sick  and  the  aged. 

2.  Their   duty  to   their   slaves   considered   as   social   beings. 
Punishments  and  the  social  principle  discussed. 

3.  Their  duty  to  their  slaves  considered  as  religious  beings. 
Public  instruction  on  the  Sabbath,  and  at  other  times,  and 

>w*  the  opportunity  of  attending.      The  employment  of  preach' 
%Vv  t  ers,  and  the  religious  instruction  of  children. 

IT  has  been  shown  in  previous  lectures  that  the 
principle  of  slavery  accords  fully  with  the  doctrine 
of  abstract  rights,  civil  and  social ;  and  that  a  sys 
tem  of  domestic  slavery  in  the  United  States  is 
demanded  by  the  circumstances  of  the  African 
population  in  the  country.  But  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  the  conduct  of  all  masters,  in  the  exor 
cise  of  their  functions  as  masters,  is  proper,  any 


OF    SLAVERY.  277 

more  than  that  the  conduct  of  all  parents,  or  the 
owners  of  apprentices,  is  such  as  it  should  be. 
The  opinion  is  entertained  that  the  domestic  gov 
ernment  of  children  does  not  more  than  approxi 
mate  propriety  as  a  general  thing;  and  that  the 
government  of  apprentices  and  of  African  slaves 
falls  far  short  of  what  is  proper.  In  this  lecture 
it  is  proposed  to  deal  with  the  relations  of  masters 
to  slaves,  that  is,  the  duties  they  owe  them.  The 
doctrine  that  the  system  of  domestic  slavery  as 
sumes  that  the  slave  is  a  "  mere  machine — a  chat 
tel,"  has  been  fully  exploded.  The  Bible  particu 
larly  regards  the  slave  an  accountable  being.  It 
requiresvhim  to  yield  a  willing  obedience  to  his 
master,  and  teaches  him  that  such  service  is  ac 
cepted  of  the  Lord  as  service  done  unto  himself, 
Ephesians  vi.  5—8 ;  and  in  the  9th  verse,  the  mas 
ter  is  required  to  "  do  the  same  things  unto  them, 
forbearing  threatening  :  knowing  that  your  Master 
also  is  in  heaven."  And  again,  (Colossians  iv.  1,) 
"  Masters,  give  unto  your  servants  that  which  is 
just  and  equal."  Hence,  in  the  strictest  sense, 
religion  holds  the  scales  of  justice  between  masters 
and  slaves.  Each  one  is  held  to  a  strict  account 
ability  for  the  faithful  performance  of  his  duty, 
the  one  to  the  other — "  for  there  is  no  respect  of 
persons  with  God." 

It  behooves  us,  then,  who  are  masters,  or  who 


273  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

expect  to  become  masters,  to  inquire  into  the 
duties  of  this  relation.  The  master  who  does  not 
inform  himself  on  this  subject,  and  endeavor  con 
scientiously  to  do  his  duty,  is  strangely  wanting 
in  important  elements  of  Christian  character,  and, 
indeed,  even  in  some  of  those  attributes  which 
enter  materially  into  the  character  of  a  good 
citizen. 

A  most  fanatical  spirit  is  abroad  in  the  land  on 
the  subject  of  domestic  slavery.  The  inhumanity 
of  masters  at  the  South  is  greatly  exaggerated. 
(Instances  in  which  the  institution  of  slavery  is 
abused  no  doubt  contribute  to  this  excitement.) 
Even  those  who  are  deficient  in  the  duties  they 
owe  their  domestics  and  apprentices  —  quite  as 
much  so  as  is  common  at  the  South  with  the  mas 
ters  of  African  slaves — lend  a  willing  ear  to  poli 
tical  demagogues  and  fanatical  party-leaders  in 
their  denunciations  of  the  South.  Want  of  sym 
pathy  for  hired  servants,  and  instances  in  which 
they  are  overreached  and  oppressed  beyond  the 
means  of  legal  redress,  are  as  common  in  certain 
quarters  as  are  the  cases  of  inhumanity  to  the 
slaves  at  the  South.  But  this  does  not  help  the 
matter.  Evils  of  this  kind  are  to  be  deplored 
whether  they  occur  at  the  North  or  the  South. 
The  injunction  of  the  apostle  reaches  every  case 
of  the  kind — "  Masters,  give  unto  your  servants 


OF    SLAVERY.  279 

that  which  is  just  and  equal :   knowing  that  ye 
also  have  a  Master  in  heaven." 

But  what  may  the  apostle  mean  hy  this  pre 
cept?  The  view  before  taken  of  the  right  will 
justify  a  departure  from  the  usual  line  of  thought 
on  this  subject.  To  give  any  one  that  which  is 
just  is  to  confer  upon  him  that  which  is  his  right. 
To  give  that  which  is  just  and  equal,  is  a  form  of 
expression  that  may  limit  the  term  "just"  to  its 
legal  sense,  that  is,  confer  on  him  all  the  rights 
guaranteed  to  him  by  law.  There  is  a  special 
necessity  for  this  command  in  any  state  of  society. 
For  whatever  advantages  the  law  might  confer  on 
the  slave,  his  subordinate  relation,  and  the  supe 
rior  position  and  authority  of  the  master,  will  of 
necessity  place  it  in  his  power  to  defeat  the  pro 
visions  of  the  law  in  favor  of  the  slave.  But  the 
command  goes  farther  than  this  :  Give  unto  your 
servants  that  which  is  equal.,  equitable,  that  is,  jus 
tice  in  a  moral  sense,  or  that  which  is  right — good 
in  itself.  Whatever  provision  the  law  might  make 
for  the  benefit  of  the  slave,  as  a  slave,  might  be 
secured  to  him  by  his  master,  and  yet  many  of  his 
natural  and  acquired  rights  might  be  overlooked,  and 
the  claims  of  Christian  charity  annulled.  To  ful 
fil  the  command,  however,  we  must  give  the  slave 
equity,  as  well  as  legal  justice:  we  must  do  unto  «• 
the  slave  what  we  would  have  the  slave  to  do 


*    •      v  :    -•    .        •  /.-     .  '.' 

280  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

unto  us,  on  a  change  of  relations.  It  is  needless 
to  repeat  the  discussion  of  this  topic  in  a  former 
lecture.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  the  master  is  not 
required  to  give  to  his  slave  (any  more  than  the 
parent  is  required  to  give  to  his  child)  whatever 
he  might  wish,  but  whatever  justice  and  equity 
claim  for  him,  that  is,  whatever  is  right  or  good  in 
itself;  or,  if  you  please,  accord  to  him  all  his 
natural  and  acquired  rights,  as  a  slave.  For  this 
is  precisely  that,  and  no  more,  to  which  the  mas 
ter  would  be  entitled  on  a  change  of  relations. 

We  now  meet  the  question — What  are  the 
rights  of  the  slave  ?  The  duties  of  the  master 
are  reciprocal  of  these.  Those  who  believe,  witt 
Channing.  that  the  relation  they  sustain  as  mas 
ters  assumes  that  their  slaves  have  no  rights,  WG 
may  consider  are  beyond  the  reach  of  reason.  If 
the  master  owes  any  duties  to  his  slave,  it  is  be 
cause  the  rights  of  the  slave  entitle  him  to  the 
benefit  of  the  faithful  performance  of  these  duties 
on  the  part  of  his  master.  No  point  is  more  fully 
settled  in  Scripture  than  this  :  masters  are  held 
to  a  strict  accountability  to  God  for  the  faithful 
performance  of  certain  duties  to  their  slaves.  The 
Bible  puts  it  beyond  all  dispute  that  "  the  master 
stands  to  his  bond-servant,  one  bought  with  hivS 
money  or  born  in  his  house,  in  a  relation  widely 
different  from  that  which  he  sustains  to  the  hired 


•• 

.'••  ••!'•.-'•         •;  '••,'..-.  ••• 

OF    SLAVERY.  VY-"  281 

servant,  or  the  stranger  within  his  gates,  or  the 
neighbor  without  them."  And  as  he  may  be  a 
good  neighbor,  and  yet  at  fault  as  a  husband  and 
father,  so  he  may  be  a  good  husband,  a  good 
father,  and  yet  a  bad  master. 

The  duties  which  the  master  owes  the  slave 
are  as  binding  on  the  conscience  as  those  which 
the  slave  owes  the  master.  To  neglect  either 
involves  the  party  so  neglecting  in  sin.  Indeed, 
the  duties  of  the  master  are  as  binding  as  those 
of  any  relation  in  life.  On  many  accounts,  they 
are  peculiarly  solemn.  They  are  duties  owed  to 
inferiors,  and  inferiors  in  a  helpless  condition. 
They  appeal  to  the  magnanimity  of  the  master. 
He  who  disregards  this  appeal,  not  only  violates 
duty,  but  betrays  a  want  of  magnanimity,  border 
ing  upon  that  meanness  of  spirit  which  delights 
to  oppress  an  inferior,  whilst  it  cowers  before  an 
equal.  A  brave  man  is  always  magnanimous,  and- 
a  magnanimous  man  will  rarely  fail  to  respect  the 
rights  of  the  helpless.  Guardianship,  as  well  as 
authority,  enters  as  an  element  into  the  idea  of 
master.  Masters  are  not  only  rulers,  but  protec 
tors.  If  the  servant  is  defrauded  of  his  own,  if 
his  wants  are  not  regarded  and  his  grievances 
redressed,  or  he  is  otherwise  oppressed,  to  whom 
can  he  complain?  True,  his  miseries  are  noi 
voiceless.  His  cries  "enter  into  the  ears  of  the 


*•      •  ',-     A  V 


282  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

Lord  of  sabaoth."  But  his  only  earthly  appeal  lies 
to  his  master.  He  has  permitted  or  done  this 
thing,  and  it  is  laid  upon  the  conscience  of  the  slave 
to  submit,  "not  answering  again."  His  master 
is  his  only  earthly  protector.  His  guaranty  that 
his  master  will  protect  him,  is  that  he  too  has  a 
"Master  in  heaven,"  who  is  no  respecter  of  per 
sons,  and  that  to  him  belongeth  vengeance. 

According  to  principles  established  in  the  fourth 
and  fifth  lectures,  the  Africans  of  this  country,  in 
common  with  minors,  imbeciles,  and  uncivilized 
persons,  have  a  right  to  be  governed  and  protected, 
and  to  such  means  of  physical  comfort  and  moral 
improvement  as  are  necessary  and  compatible  with 
their  providential  condition.  That  which  it  is 
their  right  to  have  as  slaves,  it  is  the  duty  of 
masters  to  secure  to  them.  Superior  positions 
devolve  higher  and  more  important  duties.  The 
master  who  ignores  these  claims,  and  affects  to  be 
offended  with  any  who  may  assert  them  on  behalf 
of  the  slave,  will  do  well  to  consider  that  the 
"cries  of  those  who  have  reaped  down  their 
fields,"  that  is,  the  claims  of  those  who  have 
labored  for  them,  and  have  no  earthly  friend  to 
vindicate  their  rights,  are  heard  by  Him  who  has 
said.  "  Vengeance  is  mine :  I  will  repay,  saith 
the  Lord."  But  Christian  masters,  or  even  men  of 
religious  sentiments,  who  always  respect  the 


••    •> 

.«*-   ; 

OF    SLAVERY.  283 

claims  of  the  poor,  find  pleasure  in  attending  to 
the  wants  of  the  helpless,  and  to  none  more  than 
those  of  their  own  slaves. 

Humanity,  the  claims  of  religion,  and  the  pecu 
niary  interest  of  the  master,  all  unite  to  enforce 
the  claims  of  the  slave.  The  physical  and  the 
moral  man  are  so  nicely  blended,  and  the  duties 
we  owe  the  one  run  so  naturally  into  those  we 
owe  the  other,  that  it  is  difficult  to  make  a  well- 
defined  classification,  especially  in  the  case  of 
either  slaves  or  children.  The  following  will  be 
found  sufficiently  accurate  for  all  practical  pur 
poses  : 

I.  The  duties  of  masters  to  their  slaves,  con 
sidered  as  "  their  money  :"  such  as  relate  to  judi 
cious  labor,  and  reasonable  time  for  rest,  habita 
tions,  clothing,  food,  arrangements  for  sickness, 
their  own  time,  and  stewards  or  overseers. 

II.  The  duties  of  masters  to  slaves,  considered 
as  social  beings  :  such  as  relate  to  moral  treat 
ment,  punishments,  matrimonial  alliances,  family 
connections,  and  duties  relating  to  women,  children, 
and  the  aged. 

III.  The  duties  of  masters  to  slaves,  considered 
as  religious  beings  :  such  as  relate  to  the  domestic 
and  public  instruction  of  their  slaves  in  the  princi 
ples  and  duties  of  religion. 

I.    THE  DUTIES  OF  MASTERS   TO   THEIR   SLAVES,  CON- 


»» 


..  .%     ?•     .- 

••    -  -•  -.-  :.-••-;  'f 

•  "'  •  >  -:  •'.•.>.' 

-.-     '284  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

-  ;  *       ..  .•  ;.;;.  r.?^f   •*  .»  ,  ••-•»./  ! 

SIDERED  AS  "  THEIR  MONEY  :"  "for  he  is  Ms  money" 

Ex.  xxi.  21. 

1.  Slaves  should  be  subjected  to  reasonable  labor. 
Instances  are  to  be  found  in  which  ignorance  with 
a  natural  tendency  to  idleness,  or  vast  wealth, 
joined  with  a  kind  of  sentimental  religion,  which 
exhausts  itself  in  a  morbid  sympathy  for  the  poor, 
leads  to  a  disregard  of  that  great  law  of  nature 
under  which  slaves  should  be  subjected  to  labor. 
Many  are  indulged  in  idleness.  Idleness  is  a 
.t  crime  in  any  one.  Even  those  whose  wealth  and 
social  position  in  society  enable  them  to  indulge 
in  idleness  without  incurring  the  ordinary  penal 
ties,  inflict  a  great  evil  upon  society  thereby. 
And  for  those  who  can  only  be  occupied  in  the 
menial  offices  of  society  to  be  indulged  in  idleness 
is  to  create  a  nuisance.  There  are  families  in  the 
Southern  country  whose  slaves  can  only  be  re 
garded  as  nuisances.  Sometimes  the  ignorance, 
but  more  frequently  the  dissipated  habits  of  the 
master,  lead  to  this.  Again,  in  some  cases, 
widows  with  large  fortunes  in  slaves  furnish  ex 
amples  of  the  same.  They  are  not  generally  in 
circumstances  to  manage  a  farm,  without  the  aid 
of  an  intelligent  and  judicious  steward.  But  a 
morbid  sympathy,  joined,  perhaps,  with  parsi 
mony,  prevents  the  employment  of  such  a  one. 
The  consequence  is,  the  slaves  are  indulged  in 


.  . 


;***v    V-v*/''^1'  '..'•''*•"'  y.v!      '.  *  A--*,  ''v      _-_    -  V* 

OF    SLAVERY.  .  285  f  1 

*'"        *  * 

great  idleness.  Families  are  sometimes  broken 
up  from  these  causes,  and  the  slaves  sold  under 
the  hammer.  The  separation  of  family  ties, 
which  under  given  circumstances  is  a  cause  for  so 
much  regret,  is  often  to  be  traced  to  these  sources. 
But  long  before  this  result,  the  slaves  are  con 
sidered  and  felt  to  be  a  nuisance  in  the  neighbor 
hood.  Many  intelligent  and  humane  neighbors, 
who  deplore  the  dissolution  of  the  family  and  the 
separations  consequent  upon  it,  are  bound  to 
admit  that  these  disasters  after  all  are  the  least 
of  evils.  Hence,  slaves  should  be  subjected  to 
physical  labor.  "If  any  man  will  not  work,  neither 
shall  he  eat" — so  God  has  said,  and  the  master 
who  disregards  it  either  for  himself  or  his  slaves 
shall  come  to  poverty ;  and  this  shall  be  the  least 
part  of  the  evil. 

But  slaves  should  le  subjected  only  to  reasonable 
labor.     There  is  an  excess   of  physical  exertion 
which  the  constitution  cannot  bear.     The  laws  of 
nature  cannot  be  violated  with  impunity.     Sooner 
or  later  the  effects  will  follow.     Excessive  labor  -••    .. 
will  result  in  a  peculiar  liability  to  disease,  in  pre 
mature  old  age,  or  in  death.     For  the  reckless 
industry  of  a  few  years,  all  this  pecuniary  loss    ;• 
and  great  moral  evil  follows.     He  who  transcends 
the  limits  which  God  has  fixed  to  human  labo^*  *.<  > 
pays  the  forfeit  of  health,  if  not  of  life.     "  To 


- 

>      '.A        >V 


H-w-  •**",••  *  . 

286  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 


coax  or  bribe  one's  slave  to  go  beyond  this  limit 
is  wretched  economy :  to  force  him  to  do  it  is 
cruelty."  The  state  of  the  weather  is  an  import 
ant  element  in  determining  the  amount  of  labor 
that  may  be  reasonably  required.  The  extremes 
of  heat  and  cold,  or  inclement  weather,  rain  or 
snow,  should  always  be  regarded.  African  slaves 
can  do  but  little,  comparatively,  in  very  inclement 
weather.  A  reasonable  master  will  regard  the 
extremes  of  heat  and  cold,  and  especially  the 
latter. 

Suitable  tools  or  implements  of  labor  constitute 
another  important  item  in  determining  the  amount 
of  labor  that  may  be  reasonably  demanded.  It 
was  cruel  in  Pharaoh  to  lay  upon  the  Israelites 
the  "  same  tale  of  brick,"  without  supplying  them 
with  the  usual  "quantity  of  straw."  Ex.  v.  7,  8. 
It  is  equally  unjust  to  require  an  ordinary  day's 
work  of  your  slaves,  if  you  fail  to  supply  them, 
with  the  tools  necessary  to  perform  it.  A  dull 
iron  or  an  ill-shaped  helve  will  require  a  much 
greater  outlay  of  physical  strength  to  accomplish 
a  certain  result.  There  is  certainly  an  evil  in 
Southern  society  at  this  point.  Many  persons 
are  negligent  of  the  kind  and  quality  of  their 
farming  implements.  Their  slaves  do  a  reason 
able  amount  of  labor,  still  the  farm  does  not  pros- 
•*--per.  A  slave  is  occasionally  sold  to  meet  ex 


.",>.»•  ';..•'>  •<•/>•  ••"•'.  .-;v-      .-,: 

-••  -     •:--.-  -v       '    -• 


.v  '% 

OF    SLAVERY.  287 

penses.  Humane  persons  struggle  with  what  they 
call  misfortunes.  Those  who  are  less  careful  of 
the  claims  of  humanity  make  unreasonable  exac 
tions  of  their  laborers.  They  are  sufficiently  near 
to  certain  neighbors  to  see  that  their  lands  are 
well  cultivated,  their  fencing  is  good,  their  stock 
is  in  good  condition,  their  houses  neat  and  com 
fortable  for  both  man  and  beast,  and  their  farms 
wear  the  appearance  of  thrift  ;  but  they  are  not 
sufficiently  intimate  to  know  that  it  is  the  intelli 
gence  or  good  common  sense  that  presides  over 
these  farms,  and  not  the  extra  amount  of  labor 
exacted  of  the  slaves,  that  makes  the  difference. 
The  slaves  on  these  prosperous  farms,  although 
they  are  made  to  observe  great  constancy  and 
system  in  their  labor,  are  not  subjected  to  the 
same  amount  of  hard  labor  as  are  those  of  many 
less  thrifty  farmers.  The  achievements  of  science 
in  labor-saving  machinery  are  very  great.  Man 
is  greatly  aided  in  his  labors  by  natural  agents. 
They  accommodate  his  work  to  his  physical 
structure,  relieve  his  posture,  and  lessen  his 
fatigue.  With  sharp  instruments,  and  those  of 
the  best  kind,  labor  is  no  longer  such  a  drudgery. 
Indeed,  labor  is  lightened  by  a  thousand  simple  and 
cheap  arts.  Science  enables  us  to  accomplish  with 
one  man  the  labor  of  two  or  more  men  in  almost 
every  pursuit  of  life.  It  is  a  great  practical  mis- 


• 


288  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

•    •    »    •*     ••    .     »fi  «~V  •  ,^*  ,  .^J.  •  *^  .  • 

take  to  suppose  that  this  is  only  true  of  manufac 
turing  establishments.  It  is  equally  so  in  the 
improved  methods  of  farming  and  the  improved 
implements  by  which  the  labor  of  the  farm  is 
accomplished.  Farmers  of  enlightened  viewrs  give 
their  laborers  the  benefit  of  the  newest  and  best 
improvements  in  their  line.  To  attempt  to  rival  the 
productions  of  such  farmers,  by  exacting  extra  labor 
of  the  hands,  is  great  injustice.  For  he  who  has 
the  same  wrork  to  do  as  another,  with  only  half  his 
means  of  doing  it,  has  twice  his  work  to  do.  "  The 
ease  of  the  patent  spring,"  and  the  "speed  of  the 
locomotive,"  are  not  more  important  to  the  com 
fort  of  the  traveller  and  his  economy  of  time, 
which  is  money,  in  accomplishing  his  journey, 
than  are  the  improved  methods  and  instruments 
of  farming  to  the  ease,  the  economy,  and  the  suc 
cess  of  the  firmer.  "  But  slaves  are  careless, 
wasteful,  and  destructive."  So  they  are,  and  so 
perhaps  would  you  be.  There  is  but  little  differ 
ence  between  slaves  and  any  others  who  labor  for 
us  in  menial  offices.  All  such  operatives  require 
a  presiding  mind  to  effect  a  proper  division  of 
labor,  and  have  its  eye  in  every  place  arid  on 
every  thing.  Without  this,  it  is  idle  to  prate 
about  the  wastefulness  of  slaves.  If  the  master 
is  himself  too  idle  or  improvident  for  this,  he  is 
culpable  :  if  he  has  no  capacity  for  it,  he  is  fit  to 


OF    SLAVERY.  289 

labor  under  the  direction  of  another — that  is,  he 
is  fit  to  be  a  slave;  but  he  is  not  qualified  to 
direct  the  labor  of  others — that  is,  he  is  not  fit  to 
be  a  master. 

Slaves  should  be  allowed  reasonable  time  for  rest. 
All  animal  nature  requires  the  refreshment  derived 
from  sleep.  The  muscular  and  nervous  system 
of  man  requires  not  less  than  seven  hours  in 
twenty-four  to  repair  the  wastes  of  a  day  of  active 
labor.  This  is  a  general  rule.  Some  do  with 
less :  a  few  require  more.  But  in  every  case 
there  is  a  limit  beyond  which  we  cannot  habitually 
go,  without  the  sacrifice  of  health  or  life.  The 
constitutions  of  some  laboring  men  can  bear  a 
great  loss  of  sleep ;  but  it  is  on  the  same  princi 
ple  that  a  few  constitutions  can,  for  a  long  time, 
resist  the  effects  of  the  daily  use  of  alcohol.  But 
still  dram-drinking  will  tell,  and  so  will  the  loss  of 
sleep. 

We  unyoke  the  ox,  we  stable  the  horse,  and  the 
whole  night  is  devoted  to  their  repose.  But  this 
is  often  not  the  case  with  the  weary  slave,  who 
toiled  with  them  through  the  day.  He  is  con 
venient  to  demands,  and  a  great  many  extra  jobs 
may  be  found  for  him  before  he  reposes.  I  say 
"  reposes,"  for  sleep  is  not  all  that  is  required  for 
rest.  There  is  a  time  of  leisure,  a  waking  repose, 
which  is  as  necessary  as  sleep.  No  reasonable 
13 


290  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

man  denies  himself  the  benefit  of  this.  The  slave 
is  entitled  to  the  early  part  of  the  night  for  this. 
No  one  has  a  right  to  require  him  to  take  all  his 
rest  with  his  eyes  shut,  and  his  senses  locked  up 
in  sleep.  There  is  the  refreshment  of  mind  re 
sulting  from  repose  from  ordinary  pursuits,  and 
occupation  with  things  which  may  please  the 
humor  or  minister  to  innocent  gratification,  by 
which,  to  a  certain  degree,  the  exhausted  system 
is  restored  as  much  as  by  sleep.  Indeed,  with 
out  this,  "  balmy  sleep"  is  not  a  "  sweet  restorer." 
The  man  who  works  hard  the  six  days  of  the 
week,  does  not  require  to  sleep  all  Sunday  in 
order  to  restore  his  wasted  system.  There  is  a 
transition  of  mental  pursuits  from  business  to 
devotion,  and  there  is  to  a  virtuous  mind  the 
hallowed  cheerfulness  of  that  holy  day,  which 
contributes  to  restore  the  system,  no  less  than 
cessation  from  labor,  and  sleep.  The  slave,  like 
his  master,  is  entitled  to  the  night.  What  if  he 
do  employ  a  reasonable  part  of  it  to  turn  a  penny, 
and  in  arranging  for  his  personal  comfort?  It 
gives  repose  to  his  mind :  it  ministers  to  his  cheer 
fulness  :  along  with  sleep  it  reinvigorates  his 
whole  system,  and  makes  him  a  more  valuable  as 
well  as  a  more  happy  servant.  Who,  then,  shall 
deny  him  the  boon  ?  Surely  not  the  economist, 
who  calls  him  his  "money,"  and  who,  by  any 


OF    SLAVERY.  291 

other  course,  would  be  reducing  the  value  of  "  his 
money"  below  par ! 

In  Virginia — and  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  think 
it  is  materially  different  in  other  Southern  States 
— slaves  are  generally  indulged  with  time  for 
repose  at  their  day  meals,  and  with  the  whole 
night  from  early  nightfall.  A  clear  evidence  of 
the  economy  of  this  system  is  afforded  by  the 
striking  contrast  which  in  some  cases  is  to  be 
found  on  plantations  between  slaves  thus  treated, 
and  masters  of  a  certain  description.  The  slaves 
are  fat,  sleek,  cheerful,  and  long-lived  :  spending 
their  leisure  time  in  cheerful  conversation,  in 
singing,  or  in  those  little  personal  offices  which 
give  elasticity  to  mind  and  body.  But  not  so 
with  some  masters.  They  sleep  as  much — that 
is,  lie  down  as  much — as  their  slaves ;  but  their 
sleep  is  disturbed  by  an  incoherent  tracing  of  the 
anxious  thoughts  of  the  troubled  day.  They  are 
not  refreshed.  Both  mind  and  body  are  worn 
down  by  excessive  friction.  They  hasten  to  pre 
mature  old  age;  and  the  weary  wheels  of  life 
stand  still  long  before  the  appointed  time.  Some 
masters  are  personally  very  industrious  and  enter 
prising  :  they  work  side  by  side  with  their  slaves. 
It  is  their  boast  that  they  require  no  more  of  their 
slaves  than  they  do  themselves.  Yea,  they  do 
more  than  they,  having  the  direction  and  care  of 


292  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

all.  Surely,  say  they,  my  slaves  have  no  right 
to  complain.  But  this  reasoning  is  not  always 
fair.  It  may  be  that  the  master  overtasks  him 
self.  This  does  not  give  the  right  to  overtask 
his  slaves.  Withal,  he  brings  to  his  task  a  physi 
cal  system  stimulated  to  a  high  degree  by  those 
mental  activities  which  push  him  forward  to  en 
terprise  great  things.  He  labors  to  exhaustion, 
and  enjoys  his  rest  only  the  more  for  having 
done  so.  Not  so  with  the  slave  who  works  by 
his  side.  When  he  yields  to  over-fatigue,  his 
thoughts  administer  no  cordial  to  his  wTeary  limbs. 
It  is  well  if  he  have  not  intelligence  enough  to 
make  them  a  source  of  still  further  prostration. 

Again,  the  man-servant  and  the  maid-servant, 
as  well  as  the  beast,  are  entitled  to  the  rest  of  the 
Sabbath.  More  than  this,  we  are  commanded  to 
" remember  the  Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy." 
The  head  of  the  family  should  not  only  do  this 
himself,  but  see  that  all  his  household  observe  the 
Sabbath.  It  is  not  enough  that  the  children  and 
servants  be  left  free  to  keep  the  Sabbath.  The 
head  of  the  family  should  see  that  all  the  arrange 
ments  necessary  to  promote  the  due  observance 
of  the  Sabbath  are  properly  made,  so  that,  whilst 
he  requires  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  all  the 
domestic  arrangements  invite  to  its  observance. 

There  are  certain  individuals  about  many  fami- 


OF    SLAVERY.  293 

lies  whose  offices  are  so  difficult  to  be  dispensed 
with,  because  they  are  so  necessary  to  self-indul 
gence,  that  they  are  often  deprived  of  the  rest  of 
the  Sabbath.  Of  this  class  there  are  two  humble 
but  very  important  personages,  which  it  is  neither 
beneath  the  subject  nor  the  occasion  to  notice, 
namely,  the  cook  and  the  carriage-driver.  To  the 
carriage-driver  of  some  families,  all  days  are  alike 
"  days  of  rest."  He  is  the  most  idle  personage 
about  the  premises.  It  is  well  if  a  farm-hand  be 
not  presently  sold  to  support  his  idleness.  But 
the  carriage-driver  of  another  family  is  himself  also 
a  farm-hand.  With  him  the  case  may  be  widely 
different.  He  may  toil  on  the  farm  six  days  in 
the  week,  and  spend  the  day  of  rest  in  burnishing 
harness,  and  with  carriage  and  horses.  If  he 
drive  to  church,  the  care  of  his  horses  is  at  least 
a  pretext  for  neglecting  the  sermon;  and  if  he 
drive  to  spend  the  day  with  a  neighbor,  it  is  not 
a  day  of  rest,  and  may  not  be  a  day  of  enjoyment. 
In  either  case,  there  is  but  little  companionship, 
but  few  church  privileges,  and  still  less  opportu 
nity  for  rest.  It  may  be  no  better  with  the  cook, 
and  is  often  not  so  well.  Indeed,  the  Sabbath  is 
seldom  a  day  of  rest  with  the  cook.  It  is  oftener 
a  day  of  much  closer  confinement.  Stewing, 
roasting,  baking,  and  broiling  the  greater  part  of 
the  day  on  Sabbath,  afford  but  little  time  for  the 


294  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

repose  for  which  the  fourth  commandment  pro 
vides.  These  are  evils  in  the  land.  It  lies  on 
right-minded  men  to  correct  them.  At  the  least, 
they  can  correct  their  own  practices,  and  in  doing 
this  they  will  do  much  to  reform  the  habits  of 
society. 

2.  Slaves  should  le  furnished  with  suitable  habita 
tions.  We  are  considering  slaves  as  property,  and 
the  duty  of  masters  as  economists.  On  the  prin 
ciple  of  good  economy,  slaves  are  entitled  to  habi 
tations  sufficiently  airy  and  cool  in  summer,  close 
and  warm  in  winter.  And  as  it  costs  no  more, 
why  may  not  their  houses  be  located  with  due  re 
gard  to  their  health,  their  convenience,  and  com 
fort  ?  Let  them  then  be  grouped  together  on  the 
gentle  slope  of  a  hill,  and,  as  lime  is  cheap,  let 
them  all  be  neatly  whitewashed.  Who  could  ob 
ject  to  a  little  garden  spot  attached  to  each  ?  And 
why  may  there  not  be  nice  rows  of  shade  trees, 
and  neat  grass-plots  upon  which  the  children  can 
sport,  and  where  the  men  and  women  can  sit  and 
enjoy  a  delightful  Sabbath  evening?  Economy 
will  not  object  to  this.  The  miserable  smoky 
hovels  in  low  damp  situations,  black  and  disagree 
able  to  the  sight,  in  which,  in  some  instances, 
they  are  huddled  together,  cannot  be  too  severely 
condemned  on  the  principles  of  economy,  no  less 
than  on  those  of  good  morals.  For  if  the  inhabit- 


OF    SLAVERY.  295 

ants  of  such  buildings  are  not  filthy,  degraded,  and 
thievish  to  an  extent  that  materially  depreciates 
their  value,  it  can  only  be  because  they  are  extra 
ordinary  examples  of  moral  purity. 

3.  Slaves  should  be  comfortably  clothed.  All 
those  families  whose  self-respect  leads  them  to 
regard  their  position  in  society,  supply  their 
slaves  with  comfortable  clothing,  and  pay  particular 
attention  to  the  neatness  as  well  as  the  comfort 
of  those  kept  about  the  house.  It  would  indicate 
a  very  low  state  of  civilization,  if  these  things 
should  be  generally  neglected.  The  improvements 
in  the  manufacture  of  cotton,  wool,  and  leather 
have  been  so  great  that  nothing  short  of  these 
could  be  tolerated  in  decent  society.  Our  slaves 
are  no  doubt  generally  better  fed,  clothed,  and 
housed  than  are  the  menials  in  most  of  the  nations 
of  Europe.  Still,  there  are  instances  of  neglect, 
which  should  be  noticed.  Those  who  pay  but 
little  attention  to  their  habitations,  generally  neg 
lect  their  clothing.  Feet  are  to  be  found  unshod 
when  frost  is  on  the  ground ;  the  head  uncovered 
in  all  weathers ;  and  the  body  far  from  being  suit 
ably  protected.  The  color  and  tropical  habitudes 
of  our  slaves  render  them  peculiarly  liable  to  suffer 
from  cold.  Health  as  well  as  comfort  requires 
them  to  be  warmly  clad  in  cold  weather.  "A 
shivering  servant  is  a  shame  to  any  master."  It 


296  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

is  economy  to  sell  a  slave  occasionally  rather  than 
let  all  suffer  for  the  want  of  clothing.  But  they 
should  also  be  supplied  with  suitable  beds  and 
bedding.  The  expense  is  really  so  trifling,  and  the 
economy  so  great,  that  masters  entitled  to  respect 
cannot  be  excused  for  the  neglect  of  this  duty 
Shucks  are  plentiful  on  all  farms,  and  cotton  is 
abundant  on  many,  and  can  be  easily  had  at  cheap 
rates  on  those  on  which  it  is  not  raised.  These 
articles  make  excellent  mattresses,  and  the  latter 
makes  most  excellent  comforts.  Those  rainy  days 
on  which  slaves  should  not  be  allowed  to  work 
out,  should  be  employed  in  providing  these  articles. 
Health  arid  life  are  often  thus  preserved.  To  allow 
slaves  to  labor  in  filth  and  rags  through  the  week, 
and  lie  about  or  stroll  about  on  the  Sabbath  in 
their  unwashed  rags,  should  be  severely  censured. 
It  does  not  help  the  matter  a  great  deal  to  throw 
them  a  thin  blanket  occasionally,  with  liberty  to 
take  repose  wherever  they  can  find  it.  Such  mas 
ters  pay  more  in  doctors'  bills  than  it  would  cost 
to  make  their  slaves  as  comfortable  as  those  of 
their  more  prudent  neighbors.  It  is  a  shame  to 
them.  We  cannot  give  them  any  more  credit  for 
practical  sense  than  for  good  morals. 

4.  Slaves  should  be  well  fed.  The  quality,  the 
quantity  of  food,  and  reasonable  time  to  eat  it  and 
refresh  themselves,  are  the  ideas  which  enter  into 


OP    SLAVERY.  297 

this  duty.  A  sufficient  quantity  of  good  substantial 
food,  well  prepared,  should  be  furnished.  Meat 
should  form  a  fair  proportion  of  the  diet  of  a  labor 
ing  African.  The  Irish,  it  is  true,  eat  but  little 
meat,  and  do  well, — that  is,  such  as  do  not  perish, 
— but  the  African  constitution  in  this  climate 
requires  meat,  and  they  must  have  it  if  they  do 
full  labor.  Their  food  should  be  well  prepared. 
To  secure  this,  it  should  be  prepared  by  a  cook, 
and  eaten  at  a  common  table.  To  put  laboring 
farm-hands  off  with  an  allowance  of  meat  and  meal, 
to  prepare  it  or  seek  its  preparation  as  they  may, 
is  too  obviously  wrong  to  require  argument.  The 
force  of  habit  is  exceedingly  stubborn  in  the  Afri 
can.  To  eat  a  piece  of  meat  exhausted  of  its 
nutriment  by  being  crisped  on  the  coals,  is  very 
much  to  the  taste  of  those  accustomed  to  it : 
they  will  yield  with  great  reluctance.  But  still, 
this  plan  should  give  place  to  the  better  prepara 
tion  of  the  public  table.  An  excellent  habit  of 
the  slaves  is  to  eat  slowly.  Usually  something 
like  two  hours  in  the  long  days  is  allowed  them  to 
eat  and  refresh  themselves  at  noon.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  allow.  An  hour's  repose  after  a  meat 
dinner  should  be  allowed  to  all  laborers  in  the 
heat  of  summer.  Again,  they  are  entitled  to  such 
variety  as  the  season  affords.  The  early  roasting 
ear,  the  ripe  fruit,  the  melons,  the  potatoes,  the 


298  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

fat  stock,  all  enter  of  right  in  due  season  and 
limited  proportions  into  their  bill  of  fare.  Better 
do  all  this  than  pay  doctors'  bills,  or  tempt  them 
to  steal.  Nor  do  I  fall  out  with  the  custom  of 
some  of  our  better  families,  to  supply  their  tables 
with  a  portion  of  all  the  delicacies  of  the  "  great 
house/'  on  particular  occasions.  Some  may  think 
this  too  much  for  slaves  !  But  the  attachment  of 
Southern  slaves  to  the  families  in  which  they  were 
born  and  brought  up  is  proverbial.  And  let 
Northern  fanatics  believe  and  prate  what  they 
will,  it  is  still  true  that  the  practical  workings  of 
the  system  generally,  on  the  basis  of  the  duties 
here  inculcated,  is  in  a  good  degree  the  cause  of 
this  attachment.  Every  right-minded  master  con 
templates  the  physique  of  his  servants  with  emo 
tions  of  pride  and  pleasure.  Their  looks  reflect 
his  character.  A  gang  of  half-starved,  meanly- 
clad,  overworked  slaves,  with  no  heart  to  laugh 
or  sing,  and  even  without  that  attachment  for  their 
owners  which  the  ox  and  the  ass  have  for  theirs, 
is  a  disgusting  spectacle,  and  as  revolting  to  every 
feeling  of  humanity  as  it  is  in  violation  of  every 
principle  of  economy. 

5.  Provision  should  be  made  for  slaves  in  times 
of  sickness.  Each  of  the  topics  discussed  derives 
much  of  its  importance  from  its  connection  with 
this.  Reasonable  labor,  time  for  repose  and  sleep, 


OF    SLAVERY,  299 

habitations,  clothing,  and  food,  are  each  and  all  of 
them  provisions  against  the  occurrence  of  sickness. 
Still,  the  topic  deserves  a  more  special  notice. 
All  families  should  have  such  domestic  provisions 
as  anticipate  sickness  by  suitable  arrangements 
for  it  when  it  comes— such  as  comfortable  apart 
ments  and  the  ordinary  conveniences  for  nursing. 
All  families  and  manufactories  employing  a  suffi 
cient  number  of  slaves  to  require  it,  should  have  a 
hospital :  that  is,  a  house  so  situated  as  to  loca 
tion  and  internal  arrangements  as  to  be  a  conve 
nient  and  comfortable  place  for  the  sick,  and 
equally  convenient  to  those  who  may  have  to 
nurse  the  sick,  or  to  overlook  those  who  do.  The 
economy  of  such  an  arrangement  on  large  farms 
commends  itself  to  approbation,  So  far  from 
encouraging  a  w  ell  -known  disposition  among 
slaves  of  a  certain  character  to  lie  by  for  trifling 
causes,  it  will  contribute  very  much  to  discourage 
such  habits.  If  slaves  are  permitted  to  lounge 
about  their  own  houses  when  sick,  they  may  often 
elude  observation,  and  spend  their  time  in  idle 
ness,  when  they  should  be  at  work ;  and  in  cases 
of  actual  sickness,  they  are  liable  to  suffer  for 
want  of  attention.  On  the  hospital  plan,  the  case 
will  be  very  different  with  each  of  these.  If  all 
who  are  sick  have  to  go  to  the  hospital,  and  take 
physic,  the  former  will  not  be  so  likely  to  feign 


800  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

sickness,  and  the  really  sick  will  be   better  at 
tended  to. 

6.  What  is  usually  called  their  own  time  should 
be  strictly  allowed  them.  Besides  Christmas,  there 
are  frequent  holiday  occasions  through  the  year, 
and  still  oftener  a  Saturday  afternoon  at  particular 
seasons,  which  usage  has  secured  to  them  as  theii 
own  time.  This  time  is  usually  employed  by  the 
more  provident  in  cultivating  a  garden,  in  mend 
ing  their  clothes,  cleansing  about  their  houses,  or 
in  various  ways  earning  a  few  dollars  with  which 
to  purchase  little  articles  of  fancy  or  comfort  in 
the  way  of  furniture  or  dress,  such  as  masters  do 
not  usually  furnish.  Some  masters  obviate  the 
necessity  for  a  portion  of  this,  by  cultivating  a 
part  of  the  crop,  and  dividing  the  proceeds  of  its 
sale  among  them  for  their  exclusive  benefit. 
None  but  a  tyrant,  who  is  always  a  bad  economist, 
will  disregard  their  claims  to  what  is  known  as 
their  own  time.  Any  other  man  who  should 
attempt  it,  would  soon  be  taught  to  feel  that  the 
force  of  public  opinion,  even  among  slaves,  well 
sustained  as  it  is  on  these  points,  is  a  matter  not 
to  be  despised.  The  claims  of  slaves  and  the 
rights  of  the  public  coincide.  Plantation  slaves 
who  may  be  no  less  than  a  body  of  ragamuffins, 
carrying  on  petty  depredations  upon  the  rights 
of  property  in  the  neighborhood,  are  a  serious 


OF    SLAVERY.  301 

nuisance.  Public  opinion  will  not  tolerate  it.  The 
economy  of  such  a  master  is  as  bad  as  his  injust 
ice  to  his  neighbors  is  oppressive. 

7.  Stewards  or  overseers.  The  duty  which  the 
master  owes  his  slaves  in  the  selection  of  a  person 
to  be  over  them  is  often  embarrassing,  and  at  all 
times  important.  That  which  a  farmer  has  time 
and  ability  to  do  for  himself,  he  should  not  employ 
an  agent  to  do  for  him.  He  has  more  interest  in 
it  than  any  one  else,  and  will  observe  more  fidelity 
in  its  performance.  No  economist  will  employ  a 
steward  to  manage  his  farm  if  he  can  prudently 
supply  his  place  by  his  own  personal  attentions. 
Some  employ  them  that  they  may  with  less  loss 
indulge  in  idleness  :  others,  because  they  distrust 
their  own  experience  in  farming ;  and  others  again, 
because  more  important  duties  put  it  out  of  their 
power  to  give  the  necessary  personal  attention  to 
their  farms.  But  whether  from  the  one  cause  or 
the  other,  the '  master  owes  certain  duties  to  his 
slave  as  well  as  to  himself  in  selecting  an  individ 
ual  to  take  his  place  over  them.  Economically 
considered,  the  rights  of  the  slave  and  the  inter 
ests  of  the  master  coincide.  Many  overlook  this. 
An  industrious  but  heartless  business  man  may  be 
found  to  act  as  steward,  who,  with  an  interest  in 
the  crop,  will  stir  late  and  early,  and  drive  hard  all 
the  day ;  but  the  great  laws  which  regulate  the 


302  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

reciprocal  operations  of  labor,  sleep,  and  repose 
will  be  strangely  disregarded  by  such  a  man.  He 
may  succeed  in  a  crop  for  a  year,  perhaps  for  a 
series  of  years ;  but  the  value  of  the  personal 
property  as  well  as  of  the  lands  will  be  annually 
depreciating.  There  is  no  economy  in  employing 
an  agent  of  this  class.  A  plantation  is  an  empire 
within  itself.  If  the  territory  be  large,  and  the 
subjects  numerous,  the  mind  that  presides,  whether 
as  master  or  steward,  must  be  competent  to  direct 
a  proper  division  of  labor,  and  to  govern  on  the 
principles  of  justice  and  equity.  In  such  an 
empire,  talents  of  a  peculiar  kind  are  required.  It 
is  only  the  income  from  such  estates  that  will 
justify  the  employment  of  the  best  talents,  for 
these  will  always  command  high  prices.  Mas 
ters  with  less  income  cannot  command  the  best 
talents.  But,  in  either  case,  due  regard  should 
be  paid  to  the  moral  character  of  the  man  put 
over  slaves.  The  authority  committed  to  him  is 
necessarily  extensive.  Though  industrious,  he 
need  not  be  cruel.  He  should  be  fully  capable 
of  sympathizing  with  the  semi-barbarous  subjects 
of  his  empire.  Industry,  good  moral  habits,  and 
common  sense,  are  essential  qualities  in  an  over 
seer.  To  be  wanting  in  any  of  these,  constitutes 
an  entire  disqualification  for  the  office.  To  be 
himself  immoral,  and  to  contribute  to  corrupt  the 


OF    SLAVERY.  303 

morals  of  those  under  him,  involves  the  master 
who  employs  him  in  the  guilt  of  sin,  as  well  as 
depreciates  the  value  of  his  property.  When  a 
man  of  industry,  common  sense,  and  virtue  is 
found,  pains  should  be  taken  to  attach  him  to  the 
estate.  If  he  be  a  single  man,  he  should  be 
encouraged  to  marry.  His  situation  should  be 
made  as  permanent  as  possible.  The  man  of 
common  sense,  who  well  understands  that  nothing 
but  industry,  carefulness  or  prudence,  and  virtue, 
will  secure  his  situation,  will,  one  year  with 
another,  make  as  good  crops  as  it  would  be 
reasonable  to  expect.  More  than  a  fair  crop,  like 
all  other  unfair  operations,  implies  unfairness 
somewhere.  If  it  be  in  the  voiceless  woes  of  the 
slave,  the  master  is  sadly  the  loser  in  the  end. 
He  who  retains  his  steward  with  a  view  to  extra 
crops  by  such  means,  may  be  likened  to  a  barba 
rian  king  in  Africa,  but  does  not  deserve  to  be 
ranked  among  masters  in  civilized  life.  All  mas 
ters,  I  should  think,  owe  it  to  themselves  and  to 
their  slaves  to  give  a  great  deal  of  personal  atten 
tion  to  their  farms.* 

*  I  take  this  occasion  to  call  your  attention  to  a  little  volume 
on  the  "  Duties  of  Masters  to  Servants,"  three  premium  essays, 
by  the  Rev.  Messrs.  H.  N.  McTyeire,  C.  F.  Sturgis,  and  A.  T. 
Holmes,  published  by  the  Southern  Baptist  Publication  Society, 
Charleston,  S.  C.,  to  which  I  acknowledge  myself  indebted  for 
several  suggestions  on  this  topic.  Read  the  book. 


304  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

II.  THE  DUTIES  OF  MASTERS  TO  SLAVES,  AS  SOCIAL 
BEINGS. 

They  are  entitled  to  the  restraints,  the  protec 
tion,  and  the  encouragement,  which  a  prudent 
administration  of  a  system  of  good  laws  is  calcu 
lated  to  afford.  A  part  of  this  is  secured  to  them 
by  the  civil  government ;  but  a  large  part  is  left 
to  the  discretion  and  fidelity  of  the  master.  The 
civil  government  assumes  that  the  pecuniary  in 
terest  of  the  master  and  the  duty  which  he  owes 
his  slaves  coincide  so  perfectly,  that  the  perform 
ance  of  certain  duties  may  with  propriety  be  left 
to  him.  He  is  the  patriarch  of  his  whole  house. 
His  family  is  his  empire,  subordinate,  it  is  true, 
to  the  civil  government,  but  still  an  empire.  He 
commands  the  time  and  labor  of  his  children  and 
his  slaves — the  one  for  a  definite  period  in  life, 
the  other  for  an  indefinite  period.  He  gives  law 
to  the  one  and  to  the  other.  So  long  as  he  does 
not  violate  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  politi 
cal  commonwealth  of  which  he  is  himself  a  subject, 
his  authority  is  absolute.  All  the  rights  of  his 
children  and  his  servants  appeal  to  him.  He  is 
responsible  to  the  civil  government  not  to  violate 
its  provisions,  and  he  is  responsible  to  God  for  the 
faithful  performance  of  his  duties  to  his  children 
and  his  servants;  for  the  sin  of  omitting  to  do 


OF    SLAVERY.  305 

his  duty  to  his  children  or  servants  could  rarely 
be  reached  by  the  civil  authority. 

The  duty  of  the  master  to  his  slaves  as  social 
beings  is  to  give  them  laws  within  the  limits  pre 
scribed  by  the  civil  government,  and  to  govern 
them  according  to  the  principles  of  justice  and 
equity. 

As  his  empire  is  constantly  under  his  eye,  or 
the  eye  of  his  immediate  agent,  it  is  not  necessary 
that  he  have  recourse  to  a  code  of  laws  definitely 
drawn  up  and  formally  announced.  As  the  teacher 
in  his  room,  and  the  mother  in  her  nursery,  may 
have  their  rules,  and  have  them  obeyed  without 
these  formalities,  so  may  the  master.  But  these 
rules  should  not  relate  merely  to  the  economical 
use  of  the  slave's  time  and  labor,  but  should  be 
adapted  to  his  character  as  a  social  being.  Hence, 
it  is  not  proposed  to  give  a  code  of  laws  for  the 
plantation,  but  to  discuss  certain  principles  which 
should  influence  the  conduct  of  the  master  in  the 
government  of  his  domestic  empire. 

1.  In  regard  to  punishments.  Neither  the 
magistrate,  the  parent,  nor  the  master,  should 
bear  the  sword  in  vain.  Disobedience,  which,  in 
all  wise  governments,  is  wickedness,  must  be  re 
strained,  and  in  extreme  cases  by  severe  punish 
ments.  It  would  be  great  weakness  to  forbear. 
But  one  law,  however,  should  govern  in  the  in- 


306  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PEACTICE 

fliction  of  punishments.  They  should  be  inflicted 
for  the  purpose  of  correction,  or  as  "  a  terror  to 
evil-doers,  and  a  praise  to  them  that  do  well,"  and 
not  to  gratify  passion  or  resentment.  Punish 
ments  inflicted  from  motives  of  resentment  merely, 
and  often  repeated,  tend  directly  to  cow  the  spirit, 
stultify  the  intellect,  destroy  self-respect,  and 
greatly  weaken  the  power  of  arbitrary  volition. 
Such  a  man  approximates  the  nature  of  a  brute, 
and  is,  in  fact,  scarcely  of  the  value  of  a  common 
horse.  He  is  a  human  being,  but  in  circumstances 
in  which  he  has  few  motives  of  action  above  those 
which  influence  a  brute — namely,  the  indulgence 
of  his  animal  nature,  restrained  only  by  the  fear 
of  present  punishment.  He  is  not  as  serviceable 
as  a  brute,  and  is  far  more  dangerous  than  a  brute. 
A  slave  to  whose  sense  of  what  is  right  and 
proper  to  be  done  nothing  can  be  trusted,  and 
from  whom  nothing  can  be  gotten  but  that  which 
is  extorted  from  his  fears,  is  of  no  value  unless 
it  be  to  a  master  of  the  same  genus — that  is,  like 
himself,  a  brute.  The  prodigality  as  well  as 
wickedness  of  this  course  requires  no  comment. 
There  is  a  more  excellent  way  of  maintaining 
authority,  and  it  lies  upon  the  conscience  of  every 
master  no  less  than  upon  his  purse  to  observe  it 
as  a  duty  :  it  is  to  punish  for  the  purpose  of  cor 
rection  only — not  to  destroy,  but  to  save. 


OF    SLAVERY.  307 

Punishments  can  only  be  salutary  as  a  means 
of  moral  discipline  in  the  measure  in  which  they 
produce  shame  and  mortification.  But  one  who 
has  no  self-respect  can  have  no  shame.  The  effect 
of  punishment  in  such  a  case  is  lost  only  so  far  as 
it  may  help  to  brutalize  him.  A  desire  to  secure 
the  favor  and  preserve  the  confidence  of  those 
upon  whom  we  are  dependent  is  the  highest  guar 
anty  for  faithfulness.  But  he  only  who  respects 
himself  will  value  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
others.  And  it  is  difficult  for  any  man  to  retain 
his  self-respect  when  he  knows  that  no  one  re 
spects  him.  It  is  not  impossible  to  be  done ;  but 
only  men  of  great  moral  firmness  and  conscious 
integrity  succeed  in  doing  it.  We  have  no  right 
to  expect  it  from  slaves.  They  universally  con 
cede  the  superior  intelligence  of  the  whites.  And 
for  one  of  these,  accustomed  from  early  childhood 
to  hear  himself  disparaged  in  company,  and  de 
graded  by  harsh  epithets  for  his  stupidity  and 
disobedience  by  those  whom  he  thinks  to  be  supe 
rior  in  every  thing,  to  grow  up  with  the  necessary 
self-respect,  is  not  to  be  expected.  It  would  be 
singular,  indeed,  even  if  one  who  had  been  better 
brought  up  should  be  able  to  retain  his  self-respect 
under  this  kind  of  treatment.  And  without  self- 
respect,  punishment  can  have  no  moral  effect. 
Why  then  should  we  thus  sin  against  God  ?  How 


308  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PKACTICE 

much  better  to  regard  the  counsel  of  Paul :  "And 
ye  masters,  do  the  same  things  unto  them,  forbearing 
threatening :  knowing  that  your  Master  also  is  in 
heaven"  Ephesians  vi.  9.  He  hath  enjoined  upon 
servants  to  serve  their  "masters  in  singleness  of 
heart  as  unto  Christ"  "  with  good  will  doing  service 
as  to  the  Lord,  and  not  to  men"  Masters  are  then 
commanded  to  "  do  the  same  things  unto  them,  for 
bearing  threatening  ;"  that  is,  carefully  avoiding  all 
those  hasty,  unjust,  and  petulant  censures,  which 
display  themselves  in  idle  threatenings,  or  scold 
ings,  do  your  duty  to  your  servants  as  an  act  of 
duty  to  God ;  or,  with  a  view  to  his  approbation, 
govern  them  according  to  the  principles  of  justice, 
equity,  and  kindness — remembering  that  your 
Master  is  in  heaven,  from  whose  forbearance  you 
may  have  need  of  more  than  you  now  extend  to 
your  servants, 

"  I  desire  to  be  kind  to  my  servants  ;  but  they 
are  often  so  perverse,  they  will  not  allow  me  to 
make  their  situation  as  comfortable  &s  I  would." 
We  sometimes  meet  with  these  remarks.  There 
is  often  a  great  deal  of  reason  for  them.  Our 
slaves  have  many  faults.  They  are  ignorant, 
careless,  slothful,  and  sometimes  perverse.  These 
things  are  at  all  times  vexatious,  and  sometimes  a 
great  temptation  to  sin.  But  then  it  should  not 
be  forgotten  that  our  children  sometimes  give  us 


OF    SLAVEBY.  309 

more  trouble,  and  furnish  stronger  temptations  to 
sin,  than  our  slaves  could  possibly  do.  Having  all 
the  perverseness  of  the  slave,  their  superior  intel 
ligence  may  make  them  much  more  potent  for  evil. 
But  still  they  are  our  children.  The  wisest  and 
best  parents  will  have  to  be  blind  to  a  great  many 
faults,  and  ultimately  bear  in  silence  with  a  great 
deal  which  cannot  be  concealed.  The  parent  that 
does  his  best,  and  commits  results  to  God,  will 
find  in  the  end  that  things  turn  out  a  great  deal 
better  than  his  fears  dictated  they  would  do.  So 
our  slaves  are  ours  still.  They  are  God's  poor, 
committed  to  us.  We  must  control  and  protect 
them  for  their  profit,  as  well  as  work  them  for  our 
mutual  profit.  They  have  great  faults.  Still,  they 
are  our  heritage  both  for  good  and  for  evil.  We 
may  not  dissolve  the  relation  between  us  and  them, 
any  more  than  that  between  us  and  our  children. 
We  dare  not  turn  them  loose  in  the  savage  wilds  of 
Africa,  any  more  than  we  dare  allow  them  to  be 
hunted  down  as  wild  beasts  by  the  advances  of  a 
superior  race,  with  whom  they  cannot  be  permitted 
to  amalgamate.  To  govern  as  well  as  work  them, 
is,  then,  a  moral  necessity.  We  cannot  fulfil  our 
duty  without  perhaps  a  great  deal  of  trouble  in 
given  cases.  At  all  times  we  must  be  blind  to 
many  faults,  and  bear  with  some  others  which 
cannot  be  concealed.  There  is  no  release  from 


310  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

this  war.  Penalties,  severe  penalties  must  be 
inflicted  occasionally.  Every  steady  government 
will  sometimes  have  to  wield  authority  with  a 
strong  hand.  This  is  a  source  of  trouble  to  all, 
and  often  of  great  pain  to  good  people.  Still,  there 
are  views  to  be  taken  of  the  condition  of  the  Afri 
can  which  go  far  to  relieve  the  whole  subject  of  its 
difficulties.  Many  of  those  faults  which  are  sources 
of  so  much  annoyance  are  to  be  traced  to  ignorance 
and  a  want  of  self-respect,  and  these  are  oftentimes 
their  infirmities.  They  are  by  nature  slow  to 
learn,  and  hence  their  ignorance ;  and  few  perhaps 
have  taken  pains  to  cultivate  in  them  much  self- 
respect.  Do  not  these  facts  plead  in  their  behalf? 
Again,  what  master  who  desires  to  do  justly  can 
be  wholly  indifferent  to  their  good  qualities  ?  For 
a  more  docile  and  kind-hearted  race  of  people  are 
not  to  be  found  than  the  Africans  of  the  Southern 
States.  Readiness  to  forgive,  gratitude  in  their 
rude  notions  of  it,  hospitality  to  strangers,  and 
affection  for  friends,  are  characteristics  of  the  race. 
Cases  of  ingratitude  and  resentment  are  the  excep 
tions,  not  the  rule.  Confide,  then,  in  your  slaves,  as 
far  as  these  qualities  will  allow  you  to  do  it.  They 
will  not  disappoint  your  confidence,  as  seriously,  at 
least,  as  many  others  with  the  same  opportunities 
would  probably  do  it.  Give  attention  to  their 
comfort  in  little  things.  This  will  not  cost  yon 


OP    SLAVERY.  311 

much,  and  will  show  your  care  for  them.  Pay 
due  respect  to.  their  feelings  and  their  reputation. 
This  may  cost  you  no  more  than  a  pleasant  look 
or  a  kind  word.  Never  be  backward  under  proper 
circumstances  to  trust  them  in  any  thing  in  which 
it  is  proper  to  trust  persons  in  a  menial  position. 
This  course  will  not  be  without  its  effect.  Con 
fidence  will  beget  confidence.  For  one  to  be 
respected  by  others,  goes  far  to  beget  respect  in 
one's  self.  With  a  reasonable  degree  of  self-respect 
in  the  slave,  and  confidence  in  the  kindness  and 
justice  of  his  master,  his  discipline  cannot  fail  to 
be  salutary.  He  may  punish  in  cases  of  disobe 
dience  with  great  firmness,  and  to  a  merited  ex 
tent,  and  it  will  not  fail  to  produce  shame  and 
mortification.  His  authority  will  be  "  a  terror  to 
evil-doers,  and  a  praise  to  them  that  do  well." 
The  public  opinion  of  his  little  commonwealth 
will  fully  sustain  his  administration.  The  counsels 
of  age,  the  cutting  jokes  of  early  manhood,  and 
the  merry  laugh  of  the  young,  will  all  unite  to 
teach  the  offender  a  valuable  lesson.  He  who 
governs  a  plantation  of  slaves  without  the  aid  of  a 
certain  measure  of  public  opinion,  is  a  loser  in  the 
end.  Some  masters  affect  to  despise  this.  Brute 
force  may  sustain  them ;  but  the  public  opinion 
even  of  so  humble  a  commonwealth  as  a  plantation 
of  slaves  is  not  to  be  despised.  The  sensible  and 


312  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

humane  master,  who  would  obey  the  apostolic 
precept,  and  maintain  a  sound  and  judicious  disci 
pline  among  his  slaves,  will  obey  what  is  equally 
implied  in  another  injunction,  and  entitle  himself 
to  the  respect  and  confidence  of  his  subjects. 
Tyrants  who  have  operated  upon  wider  and  nobler 
fields  have  affected  to  despise  public  opinion,  and 
lost  their  crowns.  The  petty  tyrants  of  whom  we 
treat  cannot  fail  to  lose  the  respect  of  their  neigh 
bors.  It  is  impossible  to  respect  a  man  whose 
policy  infests  the  neighborhood  with  a  band  of 
freebooters,  and  this  policy  will  rarely  fail  to  re 
duce  such  a  man  to  poverty  also. 

2.  In  regard  to  the  social  principle.  They  are 
social  beings.  There  are  among  them  those  great 
impulses  of  our  nature,  general  love  for  society, 
and  attachment  to  the  sexes,  out  of  which  arise 
the  affection  of  husband  and  wife,  the  love  of 
parents  to  children,  and  children  to  parents,  and 
all  the  various  modifications  of  affection,  resulting 
from  collateral  and  more  distant  relationships. 
Besides  these,  there  is  the  feeling  of  friendship 
between  individuals  of  similar  habits  and  corre 
sponding  pursuits.  All  these  social  principles  are 
common  to  our  African  population.  Any  evidence 
to  the  contrary  is  only  a  proof  of  a  low  state  of 
civilization.  Now,  it  is  an  easy  matter  for  some 
minds  to  overlook  the  fact  that  they  are  social 


OF    BLAVEEY.  313 

and  not  mere  sentient  beings.  But  all  the  ele 
ments  of  simple  society  are  to  be  found  among 
them.  They  associate  together  as  other  races. 
It  is  not  peculiar  to  them  to  wish  to  be  together 
and  to  find  pleasure  in  each  other's  society.  They 
obey  the  common  law  of  humanity.  These  ele 
ments  of  the  social  nature  give  rise  to  various  rela 
tions  and  duties  among  themselves.  They  do  not 
operate  mechanically,  but  morally.  Hence  their 
society  is  subject  to  all  the  mutations,  the  conflict 
of  rights  and  the  violation  of  duties,  of  any  other 
simple  society,  under  like  restrictions.  As  in  any 
other  society,  these  relations  must  be  understood 
and  made  to  operate  within  certain  limits.  These 
rights  must  be  guarded  and  protected  by  the  ob 
servance  of  certain  duties  enforced  by  certain  pen 
alties.  Otherwise  they  may  herd  together,  as  in 
the  wilds  of  Africa;  but  they  cannot  dwell  to 
gether  as  rational  beings.  For  the  impulses  of 
nature  are  not  fulfilled  when  they  are  permitted 
merely  to  herd  together.  At  this  point,  the  mas 
ter  owes  an  important  duty  to  his  slaves.  Its  ob 
servance  will  greatly  promote  their  progress  in 
civilization,  and  enhance  the  value  of  his  property. 
He  is  their  civil  lawgiver,  and  the  judge  in  all  the 
grave  controversies  which  arise  among  them.  He 
should  not  be  derelict  in  duty.  He  should  not 
think  it  beneath  him  to  arrest  their  broils  by 
14 

•  *;•    5V  /  '  •  *        *. 


•••» 


^ 

•*   .         ...  --    /  •  >• 

314  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTIC1 

authority,  and  settle  their  controversies  by  a  kicd 
of  judicial  decision.  A  sensible  man  will  not  con 
tent  himself  by  saying :  "  There  were  no  bones 
broken :  no  one  was  killed  or  crippled,"  or,  "A  fine 
child  is  born."  These  are  not  the  only  things 
which  concern  his  interest  or  his  duty.  It  is  not 
doing  as  he  would  be  done  by.  The  civil  govern 
ment  which  protects  him  would  not  be  worth  a 
tithe  of  the  taxes,  if  it  concerned  itself  no  further 
to  protect  his  rights  of  property  and  his  happiness. 
His  decisions,  therefore,  should  regulate  the  rela 
tions  of  this  society,  should  protect  such  rights  of 
property  as  he  allows  among  them,  and  enforce 
the  observance  of  such  contracts  as  he  allows 
them  to  negotiate  either  among  their  own  fellow- 
servants  or  those  of  another  plantation.  At  the 
same  time  that  he  sees  that  they  keep  themselves 
within  the  position  which  they  hold  in  the  great 
community  of  whites,  in  which  they  are  subordi 
nate  members,  he  should  see  that  they  are  not 
overborne  and  oppressed  by  their  superiors. 

The  first  and  most  important  of  all  the  social 
relations  is  the  marriage  relation.  The  civil  gov 
ernment  has  not  thought  it  wise  to  interfere  with 
this.  It  leaves  this  to  the  control  of  the  master. 
His  interest  and  his  duty  afford  a  high  guaranty 
that  he  will  consult  the  interests  of  his  slaves  in 
this  matter.  He  should  encourage  the  young  to 


v,--. 

. 

••" 

OP    SLAVEBYV*1  315 


, -V  ~-  •  -  .•"  *  •     •  •  ^ 

marry.  He  should  not  only  positively  forbid  the 
herding  together  in  indiscriminate  intercourse,  but 
he  should  promote  marriage  by  all  suitable  arrange 
ments  and  influences.  It  is  an  important  interest 
and  duty  with  him  to  have  his  slaves  suitably 
married  and  at  home.  He  should  not  scruple  to 
buy  and  to  sell  to  effect  proper  marriages  among 
the  slaves  of  his  own  plantation.  And  when  this 
cannot  be  done,  he  should  permit  his  slaves  to 
intermarry  with  those  of  a  neighboring  plantation. 
There  should  be  in  all  cases  separate  apartments 
for  families,  and  separate  houses  as  soon  as  they 
can  be  provided. 

From  causes  which  need  not  be  enumerated, 
they  are  peculiarly  addicted  to  licentious  indul 
gences,  and  particularly  disposed  to  violate  the 
marriage-bed.  No  master  is  at  liberty  to  neglect 
or  overlook  these  immoralities.  He  should  not 
allow  any  to  marry  without  understanding  the 
obligations  of  the  relation,  and  he  should  enforce, 
as  far  as  his  discipline  can  reach  the  case,  the 
obligations  of  the  marriage-bed.  The  custom  of 
leaving  one  wife  and  taking  another,  should  be 
positively  prohibited.  Those  masters  whose 
policy  actually  makes  this  custom  in  a  good 
degree  necessary,  cannot  be  too  severely  cen 
sured.  If  slaves  were  mere  chattels,  as  abolition 
ists  affirm  they  are,  there  might  be  an  apology 


t  • 


'  •  t  '•*  •*•    •  • 


316  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 


for  this.  But  as  it  is,  there  is  no  apology  for  it. 
The  custom  of  separating  man  and  wife  is  the 
remnant  of  a  barbarous  age  :  any  gentleman  should 
be  ashamed  of  it.  The  civilization  of  the  age  may 
v..;not  be  expected  to  countenance  it.  Those  who 
think  to  maintain  the  institution  of  slavery  under 
so  palpable  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  morality, 
may  expect  to  meet  the  unqualified  censure  of 
the  civilized  world.  JSTo :  the  marriage  relation 
must  be  maintained.  To  be  maintained,  it  must 
be  respected.  Indiscriminate  intercourse  should 
be  restrained.  Those  masters  whose  policy  ren 
ders  this  custom  in  a  good  degree  necessary  should 
revise  their  system,  and  they  must  revise  their 
system  unless  they  would  continue  to  outrage 
the  moral  sense  of  their  fellow-citizens.  For  my 
self,  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty — and  I  speak  as  a 
citizen — to  treat  the  marriage  relation  among 
slaves  other  than  as  a  most  sacred  relation.  Those 
marriages  which  are  maintained  in  good  faith,  no 
master  should  feel  himself  at  liberty  to  violate. 
Nothing  but  conjugal  infidelity  or  some  capital 
offence  which  subjects  the  party  offending  to  im 
prisonment  for  life,  to  banishment,  or  to  death, 
can  dissolve  the  marriage  obligation.  "Those 
whom  God  hath  joined  together,  let  not  man  put 
asunder." 

I  have  said  that  the  Africans  are  a  kind  and 


•. 

;.  I 
"*••  •  • 


OF    SLAVEBT.  317 

docile  race  of  people ;  but  still  it  is  true  of  them, 
as  of  all  other  barbarous  people,  that  they  hav$\  .. 
but  little  conception  of  moral  influence  as  an  ele 
ment   of  government.      Fear   is   the   motive   to 
which  in  all  cases  they  appeal — and  with  the  best 
intentions.    They  have  but  little  idea  of  any  thing 
else.     Whatever  authority,  therefore,  is  pkced  in  •  . 
their  hands  is  likely  to  be  exercised  with  great 
harshness,  perhaps  with  cruelty.     Many  masters 
avail  themselves  of  the  services  of  an  intelligent 

servant,  and  make  him  "head-man,"  instead  of 

, 

incurring  the  expense  of  an  overseer.  In  many 
cases  the  plan  succeeds  remarkably  well.  But  in 
most  cases  of  the  kind,  the  master  owes  an  import^ 
ant  duty  to  his  other  slaves  :  it  is  to  overlook  the 
exercise  of  the  delegated  authority,  and  restrain,  v  ,  * 
the  tendency  to  excessive  severity. 

There  are  other  points  at  which  this  tendency 
is  liable  to  display  itself.  The  husband  is  likely 
to  exhibit  it  in  the  authority  exercised  over  the-/*  ..*' 
wife,  and  both  the  husband  and  the  wife  in  the 
authority  exercised  over  the  children.  The  hus- 
Dand  is  often  found  to  beat  and  otherwise  maltreat 
the  wife.  In  fits  of  passion,  some  of  them  are 
extremely  cruel.  The  children  are  brought  up  in 
the  same  way.  They  are  often  subjected  to  cruel 
treatment.  Impatience,  fretfulness,  and  stunning 
blows,  make  up  the  system  of  cabin-discipline. 


318  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

The  child  is  often  stultified  in  early  life,  and,  with 
out  self-respect,  grows  up  a  stupid,  slovenly,  and 
insufferable  eye-servant.  Thus,  that  which  made 
the  young  slave  a  source  of  so  much  annoyance  in 
the  kitchen,  the  chamber,  and  the  dining-room, 
began  in  the  discipline  of  the  cabin,  and  with 
those  who  themselves  were  good  servants,  and 
who,  for  the  most  part,  intended  to  do  their  duty 
in  their  humble  way  to  their  children.  Now, 
there  are  many  families  of  great  moral  worth 
among  us  who  entirely  neglect  the  discipline  of 
the  cabin.  They  take  no  account  of  the  young 
negro,  nor  do  they  inquire  into  the  treatment  of 
wives.  This  is  a  fault — a  great  fault.  It  presses  J 
with  great  force  upon  the  interests  of  the  master, 
as  well  as  upon  the  domestic  happiness  of  the 
African  family  and  the  moral  character  of  the 
rising  generation.  The  duty  of  the  master  is 
urgent.  He  should  restrain  the  exercise  of 
cruelty  to  wives.  He  should  do  the  same  in 
behalf  of  the  children.  Both  his  example  and 
his  precepts  should  unite  to  introduce  a  sounder 
system  of  discipline.  A  well-trained  slave,  who 
respects  himself,  is  far  more  valuable  in  any  view 
than  a  stupid  eye-servant.  The  master  who  will 
not  condescend  to  pay  some  attention  to  the 
discipline  of  the  cabin  must  content  himself  with 
the  latter. 


OF    SLAVERY.  319 

The  sicJc  and  the  aged  should  be  suitably  cared 
for.  It  is  not  enough  that  provision  be  made  for 
these :  the  master  owes  them  a  duty  in  the  kind 
of  provision  which  he  makes  for  them.  The  regu-, 
lar  nurse  can  serve  them  with  a  little  medicine,  a 
cup  of  water,  and  help  them  to  the  couch  of  straw, 
or  support  their  heads  in  death ;  but  they  are 
social  beings  :  their  claims  reach  far  beyond  these 
things,  and  the  duty  of  the  master  is  imperative. 
It  certainly  should  not  come  short  of  the  service 
rendered  by  the  good  Samaritan.  He  who  can 
free  his  conscience  short  of  this,  is  low  enough  in 
the  scale  of  civilization  to  change  places  with 
many  slaves  of  our  acquaintance.  Humanity 
claims  something  for  the  sick  and  aged  on  the 
score  of  comfort  as  well  as  necessity.  Why  may 
they  not  be  frequently  ministered  unto  by  their 
friends  ?  Do  we  think  that  the  laws  of  friendship 
and  consanguinity  do  not  operate  among  them  ? 
If  so,  we  are  mistaken  ;  for  they  are  social  beings, 
as  we  are.  Why,  then,  deny  them  this  boon, 
when  it  can  be  afforded  them,  as  it  often  can,  at 
so  small  a  cost  ?  I  do  not  scruple  to  say  that 
there  are  many  circumstances  in  which  any.'-- 
humane  man  would  allow  the  husband  and  the 
child  to  quit  even  the  harvest-field  to  minister 
as  occasion  might  demand  to  the  sick  wife  and 
mother,  and  to  soothe  her  sorrows  in  a  dying- 


'/••*"•  '       ,'    ' 

320  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

t  •     *-  ^  • '  •  •'•'-'      "V  • 

hour.  And  the  aged  father  !  Shall  no  child  or 
grandchild  support  his  tottering  limbs  to  his 
couch,  and  lay  him  down  to  die  in  peace  ?  Shall 
all  these  delicate  services,  if  performed  at  all,  be 
left  to  stranger  hands  ?  Shall  those  who  never 
knew  mother,  who  never  cared  for  grandfather,  or 
who  were  never  reckoned  among  their  friends,  be 
left  to  perform  these  last  services  ?  There  may 
be  masters  whose  business  or  whose  want  of 
thought  may  lead  them  to  be  inattentive  to  the 
social  sorrows  of  the  sick  and  the  aged ;  but  they 
should  remember  that  "  they  also  have  a  Master  in 
heaven!'  Would  they  have  Him  to  be  as  inatten 
tive  to  their  sorrows  in  sickness  and  in  age  ?  Let 
them  beware  "  lest  the  same  measure  they  mete  be 
measured  to  them  again  /" 

III.  THE  DUTIES  OF  MASTERS  TO  SLAVES  AS  RE 
LIGIOUS  BEINGS. 

There  are  no  duties  which  we  owe  our  slaves  as 
"our  money,"  or  as  social  beings,  which  do  not 
derive  additional  weight  and  importance  from  the 
fact  that  they  are  religious  beings,  and  that,  as 
such,  we  owre  them  all  these  duties,  and  still 
higher  and  more  solemn  duties.  "  But  I  am  not 
a  Christian,  and  therefore  am  not  concerned  in  the 
discussion  of  this  topic."  But  I  am  not  aware 
that  to  omit  to  profess  to  be  an  honest  man,  or  to 

neglect  to  strive  to  be  an  honest  man,  absolves 
'  * 


OF    SLAVERY.  321 

one  from  the  obligation  to  be  honest :  so  neither 
will  a  failure  to  profess  Christianity  free  any  one 
from  the  duty  of  being  a  Christian.  Both  you 
and  your  slaves  are  religious  beings ;  and  if  you 
are  not  a  Christian,  you  ought  to  be,  and  God  will 
hold  you  to  account  for  all  the  duties  of  a  Chris 
tian  life,  whether  in  this  world  you  acknowledge 
the  obligation  or  not.  Your  slaves  are  entitled 
to  the  rights  which  belong  to  religious  beings  in 
their  circumstances ;  and  it  is  your  duty  to  treat 
them  as  such ;  nor  is  there  a  single  master  who 
will  not  be  held  to  a  strict  account  for  the  faithful 
performance  of  these  duties  to  his  slaves. 

The  religious  sentiment  is  strong  in  the  Afri 
can.  Both  his  mind  and  his  heart  respond  readily 
to  the  fear  of  God,  the  love  of  virtue,  and  the 
hope  of  heaven.  But  they  are  religious  beings  in 
a  low  state  of  civilization.  Their  intellects  are 
usually  dull.  They  are  subject  to  wild,  extrava 
gant,  and  superstitious  opinions,  and  consequently 
to  strong  and  violent  religious  emotions.  They 
do  not,  as  some  suppose,  have  stronger  feelings 
naturally  than  others.  They  do  not  differ  in  this 
respect  from  barbarians  of  any  other  race  of 
people;  but  they  have  a  low  grade  of  mental 
development.  Their  wills,  therefore,  are  not 
supplied  with  those  motives  which  would  enable 
them  to  hold  their  attention  to  views  of  trutb 
14* 

J.TX 


322  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

such  as  produce  a  more  chastened,  substantial, 
and  elevated  tone  of  Christian  feeling.  For  the 
want  of  enlightened  views,  the  religious  senti 
ment  displays  itself  in  superstitious  conceits, 
which  usually  lead  to  wild  and  sometimes  frantic 
feelings.  We  need  not  dwell  upon  the  evils  of 
this  state  of  things.  They  are  too  obvious,  in 
their  influence  upon  the  blacks,  and  oftentimes 
through  them  upon  the  nursery  of  white  children, 
to  require  discussion.  That  which  demands  atten 
tion  is  this :  it  is  a  duty  which  the  master  owes 
his  slave  to  pursue  that  course  in  the  government 
of  his  domestic  empire  which  shall  contribute  to 
correct  these  evils,  and  to  fit  his  slaves  for  their 
destiny  in  the  spirit-world,  where  the  distinction 
of  master  and  slave  will  no  longer  exist.  Aside, 
then,  from  other  and  less  important  objects  in  that 
Divine  economy  which  introduced  the  African  into 
this  country,  God  has  thereby  committed  to  you 
these  ignorant,  these  suffering  poor.  He  requires 
you  to  care  for  their  souls  as  well  as  their  bodies. 
The  latter  of  these  duties  you  may  fulfil  for  your 
own  interests  merely.  But  each  one  of  them  you 
ought  faithfully  to  perform,  both  for  God's  sake 
and  for  the  common  interests  of  yourselves  and 
your  slaves.  "And  ye  masters,  do  the  same 
things  unto  them  :"  that  is,  as  the  context  shows, 
serve  their  interests  faithfully,  and  that  for  the 


OF    SLAVERY.  323 

sake  of  Christ,  as  they  are  required  to  serve  your 
commands  faithfully,  and  that  for  the  sake  of 
Christ.  But  how  may  you  do  this  ? 

You  should  provide  for  them  the  means  of 
public  religious  instruction.  The  owner  of  a  large 
plantation  of  slaves  should  charge  himself  with 
the  expense  of  a  minister  of  the  gospel  for  his 
slaves.  Smaller  plantations  should  unite  to  em 
ploy  the  services  of  a  minister.  The  owners  ol 
still  smaller  plantations  in  thinly  settled  communi 
ties  of  whites,  should  see  that  the  usual  supply 
of  ministerial  service  for  the  neighborhood  is  suffi 
cient  to  meet  the  demands  of  their  slaves.  Those 
who  employ  a  minister,  or  those  who  unite  with 
others  to  employ  one  to  devote  himself  to  the 
religious  instruction  of  their  slaves,  should  see 
that  he  is  a  man  of  blameless  life,  of  sound,  prac 
tical  Christian  experience,  simple  in  his  language,, 
familiar  in  his  manners,  and  fervent  in  spirit.  He 
should  devote  himself  to  teach  the  children  the 
oral  catechism,  to  visit  the  sick,  to  bury  the  dead, 
and  preach  the  gospel  regularly  on  the  Sabbath. 
On  all  occasions  of  public  worship  on  the  Sabbath, 
both  old  and  young  should  be  required  to  be  pre 
sent,  and  -in  their  best  clothes.  Masters  should 
occasionally  attend  all  these  meetings.  Our  mis 
sions  on  plantations  are  fine  examples  of  the  sys 
tem  here  recommended.  The  Sabbath  —  the 


. 

r     • 
•  .    *.  •-• 

324  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

I*  *',-•*.  •—  *  !*» 

Christian  Sabbath — is  the  great  civilizer  of  men. 
The  clean  skin,  the  Sunday  suit,  the  companion 
ship  of  friends,  all  unite  with  the  sound  instruction 
of  the  pulpit,  and  the  warm-hearted  reception  of 
the  truth,  to  raise  man  in  the  scale  of  being,  to 
make  him  a  better  servant,  and  a  better  citizen — 
an  heir,  together  with  the  master,  of  the  inherit 
ance  of  the  saints  in  light. 

Those  more  densely  populated  white  communi 
ties  which  are  well  supplied  with  the  Christian 
ministry  should  afford  ample  accommodations  to 
the  colored  population  to  hear  the  word  of  life, 
and  share  the  blessings  of  the  holy  Sabbath. 
Masters  should  see  to  this.  They  have  not  done 
their  duty  when  they  subscribe  to  build  a  church 
in  the  neighborhood,  and  pay  a  trifle  to  the 
preacher.  Their  slaves  should  also  be  provided 
for.  If  they  will  not  go  to  heaven  themselves, 
their  slaves  can  go  there,  and  many  of  them  de 
sire  to  go  there.  Their  masters  unjustly  with 
hold  the  means.  In  many  instances,  suitable  pro 
vision  is  not  made.  The  houses  are  small.  The 
slaves  are  crowded  out.  They  hear  but  little ;  at 
least,  they  are  not  instructed.  A  still  greater 
defect  of  this  system  in  Virginia  is,  the  slaves  are 
but  poorly  supplied  with  pastoral  labor  out  of  the 
pulpit.  The  sick  are  seldom  visited.  The  dead 
are  only  buried  in  crowds.  There  is  great  room 


OF    SLAVERY.  325 

then,  for  improvement.  Why  may  not  the  mas 
ters  of  a  neighborhood  engage  the  services  of  their  . ," 
minister  to  have  a  regular  appointment  for  an 
afternoon  on  the  plantation  of  some  one,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  slaves  of  the  neighborhood,  and  to 
visit  their  sick  ?  I  know  many  masters  who  are 
always  ready  to  subscribe  liberally  to  their  minis 
ter  if  he  would  engage  in  this  service.  Why 
should  he  not  do  it  ?  Perhaps  some  do.  I  should 
rejoice  to  see  this  system  more  generally  adopted, 
and  by  our  circuit  preachers  especially.  They 
would  accomplish  great  good.  I  doubt  if  a  better 
remedy  for  the  wants  of  the  African  population  in 
such  communities  can  be  found. 

But  not  only  to  help  supply  this  deficiency,  but 
also  on  the  score  of  its  own  intrinsic  value,  each 
family  should  contribute  their  personal  attention 
to  supply  the  religious  wants  of  their  slaves.  The 
Sabbath  should  be  a  day  of  rest,  of  companion 
ship,  and  of  religious  instruction  and  enjoyment  in 
every  family.  From  no  part  of  these  should  the 
slaves  be  excluded  or  overlooked  in  the  domestic 
arrangements.  That  slaves  appear  in  their  clean 
Sunday-clothes,' is  the  first  duty.  They  should 
all  know  that  they  are  expected  to  be  at  church. 
For  the  invalids  and  the  aged,  the  means  of  con 
veyance  should  be  provided.  The  old  man,  the 
old  woman  who  nursed  your  parents,  and  who 


326  PHILOSOPHY    AND    PRACTICE 

have  descended  to  you  as  the  heir-looms  of  an 
ancient  house ;  or,  it  may  be,  who  began  life  with 
you,  have  nursed  your  children,  and  helped  to 
build  up  your  house  and  your  fortune — shall  they 
be  forgotten  in  the  feebleness  of  their  age  ?  Do 
they  still  stand  to  service,  and  help  to  make  their 
bread ;  and  when  the  merry  crowd  hies  away  "  to 
the  Sabbath-meeting,"  shall  the  weight  of  their 
years  make  them  turn  to  their  seat,  because  they 
shrink  from  the  journey  of  a  few  miles  on  foot  ? 
This  should  not  be.  We  should  provide  for  the 
old  and  the  infirm  to  ride  to  meeting.  I  wondei 
some  masters  do  not  fear  that  an  ungrateful  son 
will  one  day  feed  them  in  their  old  age  in  a  private 
room  and  from  a  trencher,  instead  of  at  the  family 
table  and  around  the  domestic  hearthstone !  To 
the  credit  of  our  system,  the  old  family  servants 
are  generally  honored.  White  and  black  do  reve 
rence  to  their  age  and  their  position.  This  is  right. 
But  why  should  the  master  think  it  beneath 
him  to  call  the  young  together  on  a  Sabbath  after 
noon,  and  invite  the  attendance  of  all  the  slaves, 
and  instruct  them  orally  in  the  truths  and  lesson's 
of  our  holy  religion :  What  God  is :  what  the 
our  is :  what  man  is  :  what  is  to  become  of 
us  when  we  die ;  and  how  we  may  be  saved. 
The  simple  forms  of  these  truths  as  laid  down  in 
our  Catechism  may  by  any  one  be  made  interest- 


OP    SLAVERY.  32r/ 

ing  to  children  and  instructive  to  all.  The  child 
ren  should  be  taught  by  being  made  to  repeat 
after  us  and  respond  all  together.  Their  attention 
will  be  aroused,  and  they  will  readily  catch  the 
idea  of  a  great  many  truths  that  may  lead  them  to 
fear  God  and  desire  to  do  right.  Wjthal,  it  will 
make  them  feel  that  you  care  for  them.  They 
will  think  more  of  themselves.  They  will  rise  in 
the  scale  of  social  being.  They  will  be  less  trouble 
to  you.  They  will  be  more  happy  in  themselves, 
and  ultimately  share  with  you  the  joys  of  heaven. 
Much  of  all  that  is  here  enjoined,  any  gentleman 
may  do  and  ought  to  do,  though  he  may  not  be  a 
Christian.  He  will  himself  be  profited  by  the 
exercise  it  will  give  his  mind  on  spiritual  subjects. 
I  should  not  omit  to  notice,  that  in  speaking  of 
the  duty  of  the  master ',  I  use  the  term  generically 
— I  embrace  the  mistress.  All  the  duties  enjoined 
require  the  cordial  cooperation  of  the  mistress. 
Much  of  it,  if  done  at  all,  must  be  done  by  her. 
She  oftener  has  a  heart  to  do  it.  She  can  do  it, 
and,  with  a  little  encouragement,  will  do  it,  when 
other  persons  perhaps  cannot  or  will  not.  If, 
then,  the  master  will  not  be  the  high-priest  as 
well  as  the  lawgiver  of  his  house,  let  him,  at  least, 
devolve  a  portion  of  the  care  for  the  religious  in 
terest  of  the  slaves  upon  his-  wife,  and  especially 
that  which  relates  to  the  instruction  of  the  young. 


.  * 


328 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    SLAVERY. 


She,  also,  can  often  employ  her  own  children  to 
aid  in  this  service.  It  will  both  interest  and 
instruct  them. 

So  far  as  my  observation  goes,  I  am  satisfied 
that  the  Southern  family  in  which  a  proper  disci 
pline  is  maintained,  and  domestic  religion,  in  that 
wide  sense  which  embraces  both  blacks  and  whites, 
is  duly  cultivated,  for  good  order,  for  peace  and 
quiet,  for  general  morality  and  general  prosperity, 
in  all  that  concerns  the  comfort  and  happiness  of 
a  family,  stands  unrivalled  in  the  history  of  the 
country. 


THE    END. 


M.  E.  CHURCH,  SOUT 


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553- 


